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In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, its mutations, concealment by people and the resistance to vaccines against it, it is relevant to examine the outbreak of bubonic plague in colonial Lagos during the early twentieth century and the response by the British colonial authorities. The methodology applied to this study is historical, drawing information from medical, sanitary, land use and physical planning documents accessed from various archives as well as some secondary sources. It is clear that the colonial government's housing and public health regulations, which allowed authorities to inspect people's homes for cases of infectious disease, drove people to escape into the hinterland, increasing the spread of the plague. Consequently, the colonial authorities carried out a massive structural and physical reorganisation of towns and villages. They also embarked on large-scale land reclamation, decongested overcrowded houses and introduced sanitary measures to make the environment more habitable. This paper argues that through effective political governance structures the colonial government strategically eliminated the bubonic plague in Lagos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores characteristics of personal essays, primarily written by American essayists, that appeared in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and protests against racial injustice that erupted around the U.S. It does so against the historical backdrop of essays that were written during other global hard times, particularly the second wave of the bubonic plague epidemic in the 1500s, when Montaigne wrote The Essays, and the 1918 flu pandemic. It notes significant differences in the contemporary responses – for one, an extraordinary level of detail about life in a pandemic – many of which unite around a communal despair over pandemic losses, outrage at racism, and hope for a better future. One of the challenges faced by essayists in public hard times is how to position their personal experiences amid a public calamity. Writers of colour, the author contends, face additional challenges as they navigate the complexities and pressures of representational narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chronology of the campaigns of the years 542–545 has been the subject of debate, with Michael Whitby defending the traditional interpretation that Procopius’ long account of the bubonic plague concealed the end of the year 542, whereas Geoffrey Greatrex has championed the chronology of Kislinger and Stathakopoulos, which locates Khusro’s march to Adarbiganon and the Roman defeat at Anglon in late 542 and the siege of Edessa in 543, with Procopius failing to note the end of a year during peace negotiations in 544–545. Considerations of the progress of Khusro I’s invasion in 542 in light of his probable speed of march, and the distances he had to cover, coupled with the relatively slow advance of bubonic plague over large land masses and Procopius’ practice in arranging his material, point to the missing year-end, being that of 542/543. While the new chronology cannot absolutely be ruled out, the assumptions on which it is based are shaky.

Mice were immunized with a combination of self-amplifying (sa) RNA constructs for the F1 and V antigens of Yersinia pestis at a dose level of 1pg or 5pg or with the respective protein sub-units as a reference vaccine. The immunization of outbred OF1 mice on day 0 and day 28 with the lowest dose used (1pg) of each of the saRNA constructs in lipid nanoparticles protected 5/7 mice against subsequent sub-cutaneous challenge on day 56 with 180 cfu (2.8 MLD) of a 2021 clinical isolate of Y. pestis termed 10-21/S whilst 5/7 mice were protected against 1800cfu (28MLD) of the same bacteria on day 56. By comparison, only 1/8 or 1/7 negative control mice immunized with 10 pg of irrelevant haemagglutin RNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNP) survived the challenge with 2.8 MLD or 28 MLD Y. pestis 10-21/S, respectively. BALB/c mice were also immunized with the same saRNA constructs and responded with the secretion of specific IgG to F1 and V, neutralizing antibodies for the V antigen and developed a recall response to both F1 and V. These data represent the first report of an RNA vaccine approach using self-amplifying technology and encoding both of the essential virulence antigens, providing efficacy against Y. pestis. This saRNA vaccine for plague has the potential for further development, particularly since its amplifying nature can induce immunity with less boosting. It is also amenable to rapid manufacture with simpler downstream processing than protein sub-units, enabling rapid deployment and surge manufacture during disease outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keeping in mind the recent COVID-19 pandemic, this paper builds on a study that examined how a major twentieth century South African newspaper utilised outbreaks of bubonic plague to propagate racial stereotypes in Johannesburg. The data were gathered from the Rand Daily Mail archive database and analysed thematically. Recent years have seen the emergence of new disciplines, such as historical pragmatics, along with calls for historians to move beyond collecting documentation into textual analysis. Thus, the researchers reanalysed selected data using systemic functional grammar to discover how the communicative intention was achieved. The research follows a descriptive qualitative method. It was found that the newspaper played a major role in the promotion of racial segregation. However, at times its reporting was nuanced. Understanding how past media made use of events and discourses to influence the public and achieve political goals can serve to inform the present and illuminate the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to revisit the comparison between the accounts of the Justinianic plague of 541–750 CE, the first recorded pandemic of bubonic plague, by John of Ephesus and Procopius of Caesarea, as done by the scholar of Byzantine history, Anthony Kaldellis, in a 2007 publication. In the article, I critique some of Kaldellis's main points of comparison, and then by approaching plague as a discourse (in the Foucaultian sense), I attempt to provide a more nuanced reading and comparison of the individual accounts, and of ancient plague discourse more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodent-borne diseases such as bubonic plague remain a significant threat to public health in tropical countries. In plague-endemic areas, little information exists on the factors triggering periodic bursts, thus rendering preparedness strategies for preventing the negative impacts of the deadly zoonosis difficult. In this study, we assessed how species richness, diversity, and community structure of rodents are associated with plague persistence in Mbulu District, Tanzania. Rodent data were collected using the removal trapping technique. We captured 610 rodents belonging to 12 species, with Mastomys natalensis recording highest abundance. There was significantly higher abundance and species richness in persistent than non-persistent plague locality. Also, house premises recorded significantly lower species richness than farm and forest habitats. Additionally, we found three broad rodent community structures that varied significantly between studied habitat types suggesting high rodent populations interaction at fine-scale resource abundance. The high abundance and diversity of plague-susceptible rodent reservoirs suggestively contribute to the plague persistence in the foci. These results may be useful to developing preparedness strategies in these areas to control plague outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of História Unisinos is the property of Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Galveston, Texas is one of the oldest seaport cities in the Gulf of Mexico west of New Orleans, making it a historically prime location for disease outbreaks. The bubonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, likely spread to Galveston via infected rats and fleas on steamboats. Known as the Black Death, the bubonic plague infected 17 Galvestonians from 1920 to 1921. This article examines the "War on Rats," the public health response to the Galveston bubonic plague outbreak in the 1920s. As part of public health practices at the time, the rat-proofing of buildings provides a glimpse into the intersection of public health and architecture. This exploration of the war on rats in Galveston offers insights into 20th-century examples of cross-disciplinary collaboration to promote human health in urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on a number of recent studies that have turned to Hobbes in light of COVID-19, I explore the context of Hobbes' own encounters with plague while at Oxford, along with efforts to mitigate plague by the regime of James I. I then explore what role his encounters with plague may have played as he wrote his philosophical masterpiece, Leviathan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing of new means for the specific prevention of plague, especially protein subunit vaccines, is impossible without studying the role of individual antigens in the manifestation of the pathogenic and immunogenic properties of Yersinia pestis. The aim of the present study was to determine the antibody levels to Y. pestis antigens in guinea pigs that survived infection with sub-lethal doses of virulent plague agent strains using enzyme immunoassay (ELISA). Materials and methods. Guinea pigs were inoculated subcutaneously with 30 CFU of the wild type Y. pestis subsp. Pestis strain 231 or non-capsular Y. pestis subsp. pestis Caf1-negative strain 358/12. Blood samples from sick or recovered guinea pigs were collected on day 15, 30, 60, and 90 after infection. The antibody response was assessed by 18 recombinant Y. pestis proteins in ELISA. Results and discussion. Heterogeneity of the antibody responses to the majority of the antigens with variation of IgG titers from animal to animal has been revealed. We observed increase in antibody titers by day 90 for the most analyzed antigens in the sera of the guinea pigs injected with wild type Y. pestis 231. On the contrary we found reduction in antibody titers by day 90 in case of inoculation with Y. pestis 358/12. The preservation of antibodies to Y. pestis proteins of different localization in the organism of the guinea pigs, as well functional activity, and the degree of representation on the surface of bacterial cell for a prolonged period of time indicates the multiplex nature of the plague immunity formation. Our findings are significant for the future design and development of effective vaccines against plague and the search for new targets for diagnostics of this disease.

Both historical and contemporary records of mass contagion provide occasions for visibility to persons who otherwise remain little recognised and even less studied: those who bury the dead. While global reports attest to self-advocacy among cemetery workers in the current COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological complexities of their labour go virtually unseen. Findings on the experiences of those doing such work reveal a striking contrast. While societal disavowal often renders their task as abject and forgettable, those who inter the remains frequently report affective connections to the dead that powerfully, and poignantly, undermine this erasure. Acknowledging such empathic relationality allows us to look at this profession in areas where it has never been considered, such as psychoanalytic work on ‘mentalisation’ or in contemporary ethics. The article concludes with an example from the accounts of those who have buried the dead in the massed graves on New York’s Hart Island.

Recent historical and biological research on the Black Death in the Middle Ages has yielded new finds and spurred new questions. This article investigates how information about the plague in Rus' lands fits with these emerging paradigms. Building on foundational research by Lawrence N. Langer from the 1970s, the article investigates the origin of the plague in Rus' lands and its characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Guarding the Golden Gate: A History of the U.S. Quarantine Station in San Francisco Bay" by J. Gordon Frierson is a comprehensive and well-researched account of the quarantine station on Angel Island from 1882 to 1942. The book explores the economic and political contexts surrounding diseases such as cholera, smallpox, and bubonic plague, and how they shaped public health and medicine. It also delves into the personal and political struggles of those who worked or were detained on Angel Island, highlighting the racial discrimination and hardships they faced. While the book could have further engaged with recent scholarship on medical racism and anti-Chinese sentiment, it offers valuable insights into the origins of modern public health in the US and the social meaning of infectious diseases. [Extracted from the article]

The main premise of this paper is based on the idea that Banksy adopts a historical iconography in the representation of the disease, adapted in language and format to the contemporary context of artistic production. Our aim is the observation and description of the evolution of an artistic theme with a certain iconography. This iconography is changing and adaptable to its historical context. We apply a critical analysis based on the consult of bibliographic references. The results conclude that the pandemic by Covid-19 finds in Banksy a paradigmatic creator of media art, or mediatized, connected to digitization of cultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bubonic plague caused by Yersinia pestis is highly infectious and often fatal. Characterization of the host immune response and its subsequent suppression by Y. pestis is critical to understanding the pathogenesis of Y. pestis. Here, we utilized single-cell RNA sequencing to systematically profile the transcriptomes of immune cells in draining lymph nodes (dLNs) during the early stage of Y. pestis infection. Dendritic cells responded to Y. pestis within 2 h post-infection (hpi), followed by the activation of macrophages/monocytes (Mφs/Mons) and recruitment of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) to dLNs at 24 hpi. Analysis of cell-to-cell communication suggests that PMNs may be recruited to lymph nodes following the secretion of CCL9 by Mφs/Mons stimulated through CCR1-CCL9 interaction. Significant functional suppression of all the three innate immune cell types occurred during the early stage of infection. In summary, we present a dynamic immune landscape, at single-cell resolution, of murine dLNs involved in the response to Y. pestis infection, which may facilitate the understanding of the plague pathogenesis of during the early stage of infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, geneticists presented the results of a special study conducted within the framework of studying the problem of the origin and evolution of Yersinia pestis – the bubonic plague. Apparently, the most ancient strain of this virus known to date comes from the Mikhailovsky II burial mound located in Samara Oblast. Excavations of three barrows at this site in 2015 revealed materials from the initial stage of the Late Bronze Age associated in the steppe Volga region with the Pokrovka type of the Srubnaya cultural and historical community. The authors publish information about the burial complexes of barrows 2, 3, 7, three of which (barrow 3, burials 2, 5, 9) actually contained remains with the gene samples of the Yersinia pestis strain. Along with descriptions of burials and grave goods from the excavated portion of the Mikhailovsky II burial mound, the paper features details of the ceramics manufacturing technology, as well as the results of anthropological studies. The fact that the most ancient form of plague was discovered in the materials of the Srubnaya culture, perhaps, makes another contribution to the range of issues related to the study of the Late Bronze Age of Eurasia.

Plague remains endemic in many parts of the world, and despite efforts, no preventative vaccine is available. We performed a systemic review of available randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of live, attenuated, or killed plague vaccines vs. placebo, no intervention, or other plague vaccine to evaluate their efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Data sources included MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library; clinical trial registers; and reference lists of included studies. Primary outcomes were efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaborations tool. Only 2 RCTs, both on subunit vaccines, were included out of the 75 screened articles. The 2 trials included 240 participants with a follow-up of 3 months and 60 participants with a follow-up of 13 months, respectively. Safety evidence was limited, but both vaccines were well tolerated, with only mild to moderate adverse events. Both vaccines were immunogenic in a dose-dependent manner. However, given the limited data identified in this systematic review, we are unable to quantify the efficacy of vaccines to prevent plague, as well as their long-term safety and immunogenicity. More trials of plague vaccines are needed to generate additional evidence of their long-term effects.

The management of the bubonic plague in colonial Lagos, Nigeria, unavoidably put the indigenous population at the receiving end of massive social disruptions. The impact of the control measures on the social and political temperament of the area with the reactions it elicited among the indigenous people is absent from the historiography of the bubonic plague in Lagos. This study draws upon primary sources (first-hand accounts and interviews) to provide insight into how residents in colonial Lagos grappled with the plague and the colonial state's attempts to control the epidemic and govern the city. The central argument of this paper is that at a time of growing nationalism among an increasingly politically conscious African educated class, public health measures adopted to control the bubonic plague only served to breed political unrest and intra-party antagonism that threatened the social thread of the city. Lagos political space provides us with the opportunity to study how medical issues became entangled with nationalist agitation. Evidence for the study was drawn from archival materials sourced from the National Archives of Nigeria, Ibadan; the British National Archive, London; and oral interviews conducted in Lagos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 1630, Milan experienced the most devastating plague epidemic in its history. In this study, addressed to investigate the earliest phases of the epidemic in the autumn of 1629, a set of unpublished and only partially known primary sources produced by the city's Officium Sanitatis was consulted and compared for the first time. Including those of two foreigners who died in the Lazzaretto, it was possible to ascertain a total of 39 cases of plague occurred in Milan between 9 October 1629 and the first weeks of 1630, of which 29 (74.4%) ended in death. Seven deaths presumably occurred at home were not recorded in the Liber Mortuorum , in which at least three other deaths caused by plague were deliberately attributed to a different cause. In particular, the case of the Vicario di Provisione in charge, Alfonso Visconti, probably the first death from plague occurred in Milan that year, was deliberately concealed for political reasons. Nevertheless, the spread of the disease remained limited in autumn 1629 and it was probably stopped until the following spring more by climatic factors than by the interventions of public health officials., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None to declare.

Introduction: Bubonic plague classically manifests as a painful, swollen superficial lymph node (bubo) that is readily apparent on physical examination. However, patients occasionally present with buboes formed in deep lymph nodes, which are difficult to detect and can lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment. To better characterize this phenomenon, we conducted a review of the published literature to identify reports of occult buboes among patients with plague. Methods: Articles were identified from two sources: a systematic review on plague treatment, and a search of the PubMed Central database. Articles were eligible if they described a patient with plague who had (1) no evidence of lymphadenopathy on examination; and (2) at least one bubo discovered during surgery or autopsy. Results: Six patients with occult buboes were identified among 5120 articles screened. The majority were male (n = 4/6) and three were <15 years of age. Fever (n = 6/6), leukocytosis (n = 5/6), and abdominal pain or distention (n = 4/6) were the most common signs and symptoms. Initial diagnoses included other bacterial infections, appendicitis, or acute abdomen. Four patients received at least one antimicrobial effective against Yersinia pestis; however, some experienced delayed treatment due to late diagnosis of plague. Occult buboes were discovered in retroperitoneal (n = 2), inguinal/femoral (n = 2), mesenteric (n = 2), axillary (n = 1), and mediastinal (n = 1) regions. Four of the six patients died. Conclusions: Patients with occult buboes experienced delays in the diagnosis of plague and a high fatality rate. Clinicians in plague-endemic areas should consider the presence of occult buboes among patients with compatible symptoms and exposure history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dynamis is the property of Dynamis - Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Granada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Medicina y Cine / Journal of Medicine & Movies is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background Bubonic plague is the primary manifestation of infection with Yersinia pestis, accounting for 90% of all plague cases and with 75% of global cases reported in Madagascar. All drugs in use for treating plague are registered based on experimental data and anecdotal evidence, and no regimen currently recommended is supported by a randomized clinical trial. The IMASOY trial intends to fill this knowledge gap by comparing two 10-day regimens included in the national guidelines in Madagascar. The primary objective of the trial is to test the hypothesis that ciprofloxacin monotherapy is non-inferior to streptomycin followed by ciprofloxacin for the treatment of bubonic plague, thus avoiding the need for injectable, potentially toxic, aminoglycosides. Methods A two-arm parallel-group randomized control trial will be conducted across peripheral health centres in Madagascar in five districts. Males and non-pregnant females of all ages with suspected bubonic or pneumonic plague will be recruited over the course of three plague ‘seasons’. The primary endpoint of the trial is to assess the proportion of patients with bubonic plague who have a therapeutic response to treatment (defined as alive, resolution of fever, 25% reduction in the size of measurable buboes, has not received an alternative treatment and no clinical decision to continue antibiotics) as assessed on day 11. Discussion If successful, the trial has the potential to inform the standard of care guidelines not just in Madagascar but in other countries afflicted by plague. The trial is currently ongoing and expected to complete recruitment in 2022. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04110340 . Registered on 1 October 2019

This study aims to investigate cases of human plague in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), China, and to inform the development of plague prevention and control strategies. On 12th of November 2019, two herdsmen from Sunitezuo Banner, Xilingol League were diagnosed with pneumonic plague in Beijing, China. On November 16th, one resident of Xianghuang Banner, Xilingol League was diagnosed with bubonic plague in Huade County Hospital, Ulanqab, China. On 27th of November, one resident of Siziwang Banner was diagnosed with bubonic plague. In total, 78 close contacts were monitored over a period, but none of them developed symptoms. Plague outbreaks in animals had been reported in Sunitezuo Banner, Xianghuang Banner, and Siziwang Banner in 2019. Two of the four cases were related (husband and wife), but not the other two. All the cases may be associated with contact with rodents (hare) or infected fleas. The cases highlight the importance of early identification of plague cases in humans in order to stop further infection. This demonstrates the value of monitoring and ongoing vigilance on endemic diseases, the importance of updating medical training and raising public awareness about infectious diseases that even have not been observed over decades.

The article aims to highlight the personal and social rivalries that arose within the Russian medical community, in the context of management of the Moscow plague epidemic in the years 1770-1772. The analysis of the dispute between Danilo S. Samoilovič and Charles de Mertens in the years 1778-1784, allows us to trace the personal tensions and envy between the two colleagues, where elements of nationalism and chauvinism intersect, reflecting the complex relationship between indigenous and foreign elements, typical of the Russian medical class and social élite during the Eighteenth Century.

This article analyzes the imposition of quarantines in Peru and the debates that emerged around their implementation as a public health policy. The time frame ranges from the yellow fever epidemic in the 1850s to the 1905 Washington Sanitary Conference, which unified maritime public health criteria in the Americas. The study argues that discussions about the economic and social costs of imposing quarantines have been a constant in the history of public health in Peru and Latin America. The limited effectiveness of these policies led authorities to rethink their imposition and to implement alternative measures to prevent the spread of epidemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do pandemics have lasting consequences for political behavior? The authors address this question by examining the consequences of the deadliest pandemic of the last millennium: the Black Death (1347–1351). They claim that pandemics can influence politics in the long run if the loss of life is high enough to increase the price of labor relative to other factors of production. When this occurs, labor-repressive regimes, such as serfdom, become untenable, which ultimately leads to the development of proto-democratic institutions and associated political cultures that shape modalities of political engagement for generations. The authors test their theory by tracing the consequences of the Black Death in German-speaking Central Europe. They find that areas hit hardest by that pandemic were more likely to adopt inclusive political institutions and equitable land ownership patterns, to exhibit electoral behavior indicating independence from landed elite influence during the transition to mass politics, and to have significantly lower vote shares for Hitler's National Socialist Party in the Weimar Republic's fateful 1930 and July 1932 elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Host traits and identity predict repeatable flea loads over time in a plague-relevant system. • Weather, temporal factors and habitat disturbance also explain flea loads on hosts. • Flea species on California ground squirrels occupy contrasting ecological niches. • Host heterogeneity and parasite dynamics offer key insights into disease transmission. Understanding why some individuals are more prone to carry parasites and spread diseases than others is a key question in biology. Although epidemiologists and disease ecologists increasingly recognize that individuals of the same species can vary tremendously in their relative contributions to the emergence of diseases, very few empirical studies systematically assess consistent individual differences in parasite loads within populations over time. Two species of fleas (Oropsylla montana and Hoplopsyllus anomalous) and their hosts, California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi), form a major complex for amplifying epizootic plague in the western United States. Understanding its biology is primarily of major ecological importance and is also relevant to public health. Here, we capitalize on a long-term data set to explain flea incidence on California ground squirrels at Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, USA. In a 7 year study, we detected 42,358 fleas from 2,759 live trapping events involving 803 unique squirrels from two free-living populations that differed in the amount of human disturbance in those areas. In general, fleas were most abundant and prevalent on adult males, on heavy squirrels, and at the pristine site, but flea distributions varied among years, with seasonal conditions (e.g., temperature, rainfall, humidity), temporally within summers, and between flea species. Although on-host abundances of the two flea species were positively correlated, each flea species occupied a distinctive ecological niche. The common flea (O. montana) occurred primarily on adults in cool, moist conditions in early summer whereas the rare flea (H. anomalous) was mainly on juveniles in hot, dry conditions in late summer. Beyond this, we uncovered significantly repeatable and persistent effects of host individual identity on flea loads, finding consistent individual differences among hosts in all parasite measures. Taken together, we reveal multiple determinants of parasites on free-living mammals, including the underappreciated potential for host heterogeneity – within populations – to structure the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as bubonic plague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Madagascar is more seriously affected by plague, a zoonosis caused by Yersinia pestis, than any other country. The Plague National Control Program was established in 1993 and includes human surveillance. During 1998–2016, a total of 13,234 suspected cases were recorded, mainly from the central highlands; 27% were confirmed cases, and 17% were presumptive cases. Patients with bubonic plague (median age 13 years) represented 93% of confirmed and presumptive cases, and patients with pneumonic plague (median age 29 years) represented 7%. Deaths were associated with delay of consultation, pneumonic form, contact with other cases, occurrence after 2009, and not reporting dead rats. A seasonal pattern was observed with recrudescence during September–March. Annual cases peaked in 2004 and decreased to the lowest incidence in 2016. This overall reduction occurred primarily for suspected cases and might be caused by improved adherence to case criteria during widespread implementation of the F1 rapid diagnostic test in 2002.

This article presents the results of the investigations on the bubonic plague in the town of Ituzaingó, Province of Corrientes, Argentina. We take as a reference what happened in the first decades of the 20th century, between the years 1912 and 1919. As a primary hypothesis, we consider that the people of the interior of Argentina were not exempt from the influence of the bubonic plague and subsequent practices that occurred. We make the account of how hygienist / social and religious actions were implemented in the town of Ituzaingó, triggered by the announcement of the disease. Our work made possible the rescue and enhancement of the practices and objects that accompanied the population of Ituzaingó in this period of crisis. From the general corpus of the investigation we extract the information related to the protection mechanisms and all that is related to the liturgical elements that the Catholicism of the locality handled in face of the possible death of the population. To address the problem, we worked with historical records, objects and documents available in the archive of the San Juan Bautista Parish (Diocese of Santo Tomé) in the town of Ituzaingó, Corrientes, the archive of the Coordination of Education and Culture (former Directorate of Museums), Archives and Conservation Area of the Municipality of Ituzaingó. Corrientes, the private archive of the folklorologist Miguel Raúl López Bréard and the private archive of the author, in all cases focusing on the first decades of the 20th century. Ethnographic interviews were also conducted with various key interlocutors.

During the fourteenth century, the bubonic plague or Black Death killed more than one third of Europe or 25 million people. Those afflicted died quickly and horribly from an unseen menace, spiking high fevers with suppurative buboes (swellings). Its causative agent is Yersinia pestis, creating recurrent plague cycles from the Bronze Age into modern-day California and Mongolia. Plague remains endemic in Madagascar, Congo, and Peru. This history of medicine review highlights plague events across the centuries. Transmission is by fleas carried on rats, although new theories include via human body lice and infected grain. We discuss symptomatology and treatment options. Pneumonic plague can be weaponized for bioterrorism, highlighting the importance of understanding its clinical syndromes. Carriers of recessive familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) mutations have natural immunity against Y. pestis. During the Black Death, Jews were blamed for the bubonic plague, perhaps because Jews carried FMF mutations and died at lower plague rates than Christians. Blaming minorities for epidemics echoes across history into our current coronavirus pandemic and provides insightful lessons for managing and improving its outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an introduction to and translation of the Vase of the Deathless Ones' Ambrosia Tantra. The Vase of Ambrosia presents itself as a treasure text that was taught by Padmasambhava in eighth-century Tibet and finally revealed five hundred years later. In the opening chapter, Padmasambhava explains that a devastating epidemic disease will spread to Tibet and ultimately kill three out of every four people in the world. Despite this dire prognosis, he also explains the medical and spiritual causes of the disease, such that the physicians and ritual specialists of the future will be able to treat their patients and protect themselves. Taken together, the Vase of Ambrosia is a scriptural cycle that represents the Tibetan experiences of and responses to the bubonic plague in the thirteenth century, and which continues to inspire Buddhist approaches to epidemic disease even today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia & Antropologia is the property of Sociologia & Antropologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay explores connections between the fourteenth-century "Black Death" and the current COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the ways in which prejudice and inequality exacerbate their impacts and considering how the upheaval created by catastrophe creates opportunity for greater equity and community, but also exploitation and oppression, depending on human response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Points Results and interpretation of the subject article are surprising and conflict with expectations about atmospheric deposition of lead (Pb) Before interpretation of subject article is accepted a body of information about natural deposition of lead (Pb) must be considered This body of information includes knowledge of volcano emissions, chemistry of natural dusts, and isotopes of lead (Pb)