Microbiology and Immunology 2500A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Plague Of Justinian, Alexandre Yersin, Abdominal Pain
Document Summary
Plague pandemics one: plague of justinian (the first pandemic, named after eastern roman emperor justinian, started in the 6th century (mid-500s ad, caused by yersinia petsis, spread to mediterranian, italy, throughout europe, approx. In 1348 people had no idea what was happening: no real treatment so fear turned to panic, e. g. they had bloodletting, use of frogs, toads (not real treatment) Led to sear(cid:272)h for (cid:271)la(cid:373)e e. g. god"s a(cid:374)ger, ata(cid:374)"s i(cid:374)flue(cid:374)(cid:272)e: belief i(cid:374) god"s pu(cid:374)ish(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts led to perse(cid:272)utio(cid:374) of stra(cid:374)gers, (cid:373)i(cid:374)orities, (cid:449)it(cid:272)hes, european social order, family structure, agriculture, military, feudal system = destroyed. Virulence factors of yersinia petsis: y. petsis has remarkable ability to overcome immune defense mechanisms resulting in massive growth in vivo. Without access to metals like iron the bacteria will be unable to replicate, which is needed for them to cause disease. Plague: three (cid:373)ajor (cid:862)for(cid:373)s(cid:863) of the disease, bubonic plague, septicemic plague, pneumonic plague.