cases-of-plague-in-the-united-states-:-“this-disease-will-never-be-eradicated”

Case of plague in the United States: “this disease will never be eradicated”

July 17, 2024

news

You can also find out more about Par Marie Parra You can also find out more about the following: 1707.2024 at 09h49 Subscribers

A new case of bubonic plague was reported in the United States this week. One hundred and thirty years after its discovery, the bacteria that causes the disease continues to rage: each year, more than 200 cases of plague are reported worldwide. So has it evolved? And what risks are we exposed to? Science and Future takes stock with Javier Pizarro-Cerda, director of the Research Unit Yersinia.

Samples taken from suspected plague cases are analyzed, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 1, 2021.

CAROLINE THIRION / AFP

"Today, it is the malicious use of the plague bacteria that worries researchers," Javier Pizarro-Cerda explains to us, worried. This practice has a name: bioterrorism. Javier Pizarro-Cerda is director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Plague and the Yersinia Research Unit at the Pasteur Institute. He works in particular on the adaptation of the bacteria responsible for the plague: Yersinia pestis. How is it transmitted? Is it similar to the bacteria responsible for the medieval epidemic of "Black Death"? And what can we fear? Javier Pizarro Cerda responds to a Science and Future.

Plague Bubonic plague Black Plague Infectious disease Epidemic Yersinia pestis