What prevents America from doing away with the plague? - ForumDaily
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What does not allow America to end the plague

50 years have passed since the Americans landed on the moon, but in the USA people still die from the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. Why is America unable to completely end the plague?

The black death, as the plague was called in the past, led to the death of about 50 millions of people in Europe and Asia in the XIV century. It destroyed half the population of then-Europe.

The latest plague epidemic in London occurred in 1665, when 20 percent of the city’s population died from the disease. In the 19th century, large plague epidemics occurred in India and China, during which more than 12 million people died.

However, this terrible disease remains undefeated. It continually causes epidemics in Madagascar, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Peru. But the most amazing thing is that she continues to kill people in the United States.

This year alone, 15 cases of plague were reported in the United States, four of which resulted in the death of the diseased. This is above the average annual figures, which are seven cases per year.

Causative agent of plague, bacteria yersinia pestisIt was first introduced to the United States in 1900 by merchant ships carrying plague rats.

According to Daniel Epstein, a World Health Organization official, at the beginning of the century plague epidemics occurred very often in major port cities on the West Coast. But the last such epidemic occurred in 1925 in Los Angeles. It spread to rural rats and mice and was thus entrenched in the USA.

Plague, which is usually transmitted from animals to humans by fleas, causes the death of 30-60% of cases with no treatment, but in the case of early diagnosis it is well treatable with antibiotics.

 

Most often, plague infection occurs in summer, when people spend more time in nature.

“We recommend using flea protection and staying away from animal remains in dangerous areas,” Epstein says.

These dangerous areas include the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado. All cases of plague this year are registered in these states, and the official border of the spread of the disease is the 100-th meridian.

“Gophers are the main carriers of plague, and they live west of the 100th meridian,” says Dr. Amesh Adalja, a fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Infection Safety. “The geography and climate of the western United States favors them, and the fact that they are social animals facilitates the spread of the plague pathogen.”

It is the presence of wild animals, which also include ferrets and Canadian lynx, that makes it so difficult to control the spread of the disease in North America.

The only human infectious disease that has been completely eradicated is smallpox, which does not exist in animals. The same applies to polio, which remains prevalent in only two countries—Afghanistan and Pakistan. The WHO is working to eradicate polio worldwide and announced in September that it was no longer a threat in Nigeria. However, new cases of this disease have been recorded in Syria since the beginning of the civil war.

“Until we eradicate rodents, the plague will remain with us,” Epstein says.

On the other hand, scientists from the National Wildlife Center are working with nature reserves to create vaccines for gophers and ferrets who love peanut butter pads.

Also created a separate vaccine for ferrets, which requires injections. Therefore, researchers hope that the majority of American reserves will be able to end the plague.

In general, the search for an effective vaccine is very active, as well as methods for early diagnosis.

The reason for this is the fact that the plague is recognized as category A biological weapon. The danger that the causative agent of the plague will be used to develop bacteriological weapons remains high.

Previously "Forum" писал An article on how effective flu vaccines are.

In the U.S. disease animals plague
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