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Warning Signs Placed Around Cedar Grove Campground On Palomar Mtn.A ground squirrel trapped during routine monitoring at the Cedar Grove Campground on Palomar Mountain tested positive for plague, the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health reported Thursday. Plague is a bacterial disease carried by wild rodents that can be transmitted to humans through the bite of infected fleas, according to the DEH. The agency placed warning signs in the area so visitors could take precautions to avoid flea contact. "It is not unusual to find plague in our local mountains in the summer months, so campers should always avoid...

Occupy Wall Street is descending rapidly into a caricature of the Orwellian farce on which it was predicated: Animal Farm. "Never mind the milk, comrades!" cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. "That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting." So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared. - Animal Farm, Chapter IIVolunteers who are preparing redistributed food...

Scientists used the degraded strands to reconstruct the entire genetic code of the deadly bacterium. It is the first time experts have succeeded in drafting the genome of an ancient pathogen, or disease-causing agent. The researchers found that a specific strain of the plague bug Yersinia pestis caused the pandemic that killed 100 million Europeans - between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of the total population - in just five years between 1347 and 1351. They also learned that the strain is the "mother" of all modern bubonic plague bacteria. "Every outbreak across the globe today stems from...

A team of German and Canadian scientists has shown that today's plague pathogen has been around at least 600 years. The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353. Until recently, it was not certain whether the bacterium Yersinia pestis -- known to cause the plague today -- was responsible for that most deadly outbreak of disease ever. Now, the University of Tübingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada have been able to confirm that Yersinia pestis was behind the great plague... Previous genetic tests indicating that the...

Officials in Boulder County, Colo., announced last week that a pet cat and a dead squirrel tested positive for the bubonic plague. The cat’s owner took it to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley to be checked by veterinarians, and it was there that the presence of the bacteria was confirmed. A dead squirrel also tested positive for the plague. Jennifer Bolser, chief veterinarian at the Humane Society clinic, said that the cat brought the dead squirrel home and likely became infected from it. The bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. It begins its life cycle...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Public health officials are investigating the death of a University of Chicago researcher who studied plague bacteria and was found to have the microbe in his blood, university officials said on Monday. Malcolm Casadaban, who died on September 13, was researching a weakened strain of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis. Because it is missing key proteins, the strain is not normally harmful to people. Medical center spokesman John Easton said Casadaban had the laboratory strain of Yersinia pestis in his blood, suggesting he had a form of the infection known as septicemic plague, which can kill even...

Scientists Discover Why Plague Is So Lethal ScienceDaily (May 5, 2008) — Bacteria that cause the bubonic plague may be more virulent than their close relatives because of a single genetic mutation, according to research published in the May issue of the journal Microbiology.Yersinia pestis, direct fluorescent antibody stain (DFA), at 200x magnification. (Credit: CDC / Courtesy of Larry Stauffer, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory) "The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis needs calcium in order to grow at body temperature. When there is no calcium available, it produces a large amount of an amino acid called aspartic acid," said Professor Brubaker...

Source: Washington University School of Medicine Date: January 27, 2007 Disabling Key Protein May Give Physicians Time To Treat Pneumonic Plague Science Daily — The deadly attack of the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague is significantly slowed when it can't make use of a key protein, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in this week's issue of Science. Scanning electron micrograph depicting a mass of Yersinia pestis bacteria (the cause of bubonic plague) in the foregut of the flea vector. (Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH) Speed is a primary concern in pneumonic plague, which...

Geographical position of the five archaeological sites investigated. Green dots indicate the sites. Also indicated are two likely independent infection routes (black and red dotted arrows) for the spread of the Black Death (1347-1353) after Benedictow. ©: PLoS Pathogens The 'Black Death' was caused by at least two previously unknown types of Yersinia pestis bacteria. The latest tests conducted by anthropologists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have proven that the bacteria Yersinia pestis was indeed the causative agent behind the "Black Death" that raged across Europe in the Middle Ages. The cause of the epidemic has always remained...

In 430 B.C., a new and deadly disease—its cause remains a mystery—swept into Athens. The walled Greek city-state was teeming with citizens, soldiers and refugees of the war then raging between Athens and Sparta. As streets filled with corpses, social order broke down. Over the next three years, the illness returned twice and Athens lost a third of its population. It lost the war too. The Plague of Athens marked the beginning of the end of the Golden Age of Greece. The Plague of Athens is one of 10 historically notable outbreaks described in an article in The Lancet Infectious...

Italy: Plague victims discovered after 1500 years Rome, 10 April (AKI) - The remains of hundreds of victims, believed to have been killed in a plague that swept Italy 1500 years ago, have been found south of Rome. The bodies of men, women and children were found in Castro dei Volsci, in the region of Lazio, during excavations carried out by Lazio archaeological office. News of the extraordinary discovery was reported in the magazine, "Archeologia Viva". The victims are believed to have been victims of the Justinian Plague, a pandemic that killed as many as 100 million people around the...

Many historians have assumed that Europe’s deadliest plague, the Black Death of 1347 to 1351, killed indiscriminately, young and old, hardy and frail, healthy and sick alike. But two anthropologists were not so sure. They decided to take a closer look at the skeletons of people buried more than 650 years ago. Their findings, published on Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the plague selectively took the already ill, while many of the otherwise healthy survived the infection. Although it may not be surprising that healthy people would be more likely to survive an...

An Empire's Epidemic Scientists Use DNA in Search for Answers to 6th Century Plague By THOMAS H. MAUGH II, Times Staff Writer By the middle of the 6th century, the Emperor Justinian had spread his Byzantine Empire around the rim of the Mediterranean and throughout Europe, laying the groundwork for what he hoped would be a long-lived dynasty. His dreams were shattered when disease-bearing mice from lower Egypt reached the harbor town of Pelusium in AD 540. From there, the devastating disease spread to Alexandria and, by ship, to Constantinople, Justinian's capital, before surging throughout his empire. By the time...

The Black Death of the 1300s was probably not the modern disease known as bubonic plague, according to a team of anthropologists studying on these 14th century epidemics. “Although on the surface, seem to have been similar, we are not convinced that the epidemic in the 14th century and the present day bubonic plague are the same,” says Dr. James Wood, professor of anthropology and demography at Penn State. “Old descriptions of disease symptoms are usually too non-specific to be a reliable basis for diagnosis.” The researchers note that it was the symptom of lymphatic swelling that led 19th century...

Black Death 'was not plague' say experts The Black Death may not have been caused by bubonic plague after all, say US scientists. They have been looking at church records from the 14th century to find out how the disease spread. They now think it was probably some other infection passed on by human contact and not bubonic plague which relies on flea-ridden rats. Records show the disease spread along busy roads and rivers and over natural barriers which would have restricted rats. They also say there are other diseases with similar symptoms which are more likely candidates. The modern...

State health officials say a woman in Lake County has been diagnosed with bubonic plague. It’s the first diagnosis in Oregon in 15 years. The disease terrorized Europe’s population more than 600 years ago, but the plague is treatable when caught early. The plague is extremely rare these days. It’s a bacterial infection carried by rodents, and is transmitted to humans though fleas. Dr. Emilio DeBess is the public health veterinarian and an epidemiologist with Oregon Department of Human Services. He says the disease, once known as the Black Death got somewhat of a bad rap after killing off a...

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's health minister says an outbreak of plague has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province. Health Minister Oscar Ugarte says authorities are screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, which is south of the city of Trujillo and home of the popular Chicama beach.

 __________________________________________________ GREAT CHASTISEMENT DURING MIDDLE AGES WAS FEROCIOUS SPREAD OF 'BLACK DEATH' [Adapted from The Last Secret by Michael H. Brown] Are our times like the Middle Ages? And if so, might we one day face plague? Let's take a look, today, and in a second installment next week, at the "black death," which occurred in the 14th century. That great disaster -- one of the greatest on record -- took place at a time of immorality, irreligion (the Mass was celebrated in some places like a circus), and materialism. It followed on the heels of a climate swerve...

Bubonic plague reported in Libya The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending an expert to Libya to look into a reported outbreak of bubonic plague not far from the Egyptian border. Libyan officials say at least one person has died and several more have been infected in the town of Tubruq. Cases of the disease, which was known as the Black Death in medieval Europe, are reported quite frequently in sub-Saharan Africa. Bubonic plague can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early. The WHO received a request from Libya to investigate the suspected cases in Tubruq on Tuesday, spokeswoman Aphaluck...

An 8-year-old New Mexico boy has died and his 10-year-old sister was hospitalized after both contracted bubonic plague, the first recorded human plague cases in the nation so far this year. Plague is generally transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas, but also can be transmitted by direct contact with infected animals, including rodents, rabbits and pets. Symptoms of the bubonic form of the plague in humans include fever, chills, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea and swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit or neck areas. Pneumonic plague, which is an infection of the lungs, can include severe cough, difficulty...

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria. He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication...

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH. At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside. The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East. It trains Muslim...

That little attack of bubonic plague may have been a Biological Weapons screw up. The al-Qaeda cell wiped out by Black Death may have infected ITSELF while developing biological weapons according to some sources. The terrorists to infect on Western targets but fell victims to their own weapon, a leading expert on chemical warfare believes. The news broke yesterday that the plague killed at least 40 fanatics at a terror training camp in Algeria earlier this month. It was thought they caught the disease through poor living conditions in their forest hideouts. Well maybe not according to the Washington Times:

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH. At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside. The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East. It trains Muslim...

As 2008 winds down, we will take this opportunity to look back at some of the most interesting medieval stories of the year. Here is our list of top articles placed on our news blog: Art Historian recreates 'The Mystic Ark' of Hugh of Saint Victor Polish archaeologists find remains of three Teutonic Knights Byzantine gold coins discovered in Jerusalem Fordham Professor Decodes Hidden Messages in Medieval Text Byzantine art exhibition at the Royal Academy, London Battle of Agincourt Archaeological discoveries in Rome Istanbul project reveals Byzantine discoveries Boyana church in Sofia - Medieval frescos Vikings may have gone out...

One day last October, Eric York lugged the carcass of an adult mountain lion from his truck and laid it carefully on a tarp on the floor of his garage. The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a biologist at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, found the big cat lying motionless near the canyon’s South Rim. He was determined to learn why she died. Because the park lacks a forensics lab, he did the postmortem in his garage, in a village of about 2,000 park employees. Epidemic experts...

Health department recommends residents take precautions Public-health officials are urging residents to take precautions to avoid hantavirus. Four cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have already been reported in 2008, with one resulting in a fatality. The most recent cases were confirmed last week in Delta and Dolores counties. Two previous cases of hantavirus were reported in Kiowa County in February and Fremont County in early May. The patient in Kiowa County died. "This year's heavy snowpack has provided moisture for ample vegetation that provides food for rodents, and often results in a large jump in both mouse populations and infection...

For centuries, rats and fleas have been fingered as the culprits responsible for the Black Death, the medieval plague that killed as many as two thirds of Europe’s population. But historians studying 14th-century court records from Dorset believe they may have uncovered evidence that exonerates them. The parchment records, contained in a recently-discovered archive, reveal that an estimated 50 per cent of the 2,000 people living in Gillingham died within four months of the Black Death reaching the town in October 1348. The deaths are recorded in land transfers lodged with the manorial court which – unusually for the period...

A Denver Zoo monkey has died of bubonic plague, apparently after eating a squirrel stricken with the disease, Colorado health and zoo officials said on Monday. Five squirrels and a rabbit found dead on zoo grounds tested positive for the flea-borne disease in recent weeks, Denver Zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie said. Zookeepers on May 15 noticed the 8-year-old hooded capuchin monkey was lethargic, and the next day it was found dead in its enclosure. Zoo veterinarians sent tissue samples to a state laboratory where it was determined the animal died of the plague. The death was announced on Monday. Zoo...

DENVER - Six dead tree squirrels found near the Denver Zoo and City Park have tested positive for bubonic plague, the state health department reported Friday.Experts say it is unusual to find the disease in the center of a city. Caused by a bacterium, plague is transmitted from rodent to rodent by infected fleas. Humans can catch the disease through scratches, bites and coughs."The risk of Denver residents contracting plague is extremely low," said John Pape, an epidemiologist who specializes in animal-related diseases for the health department's disease control division.Symptoms in humans include high fever, fatigue, weakness and a painful,...

A CASE of bubonic plague has been reported in the second largest US city, Los Angeles, for the first time in 22 years, health officials said today. An unidentified woman came down last week with symptoms of the disease, known as the Black Death, when it devastatingly swept across Europe in the 14th century. Health officials said they believed the infected woman, who remains in hospital, was exposed to fleas in the area around her house and stressed it was unlikely the rare disease would spread. "Bubonic plague is not usually transmissible from person to person," Jonathan Fielding, head of...

Jefferson County health officials have confirmed an outbreak of bubonic plague among prairie dog colonies at C-470 and West Quincy Avenue in the Green Mountain area. There were no reports of human cases in the area, but precautions were advised. Pet owners also were advised to avoid contact with any species of wild rodents, especially those appearing sick or dead. The best way to prevent plague is to control the presence of rodents and fleas in and around the home, health officials said. Dogs and cats should be confined so they cannot prey on infected rodents. If precautions are taken,...

NEWARK, N.J. -- Authorities are searching for three mice infected with bubonic plague that disappeared from a research laboratory about two weeks ago.While health experts say the risk to the public is slim to none, the incident highlights ongoing security failures at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The mice went missing from the lab of the Public Health Research Institute, which is located on the UMDNJ campus and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI are investigating, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers. The...

The possibility of theft prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct lie detector tests, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Thursday. The FBI said it was investigating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating, the newspaper reported. The incident came as federal authorities investigate possible corruption in the school's finances. The FBI is reviewing political donations and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts awarded to politically connected firms.

St. Vincent Ferrer for Our Day by James R. Motl, O.P.Dominican Life A hitherto unknown disease has sprung up in China and has killed many people there.  Because of the growing popularity of international travel, the disease has now reached our continent and has claimed many lives in our part of the world. Contemporary medical practice knows no cure for this illness.  World commerce has been seriously affected.  Whereas in previous years people had been terrified of the increasing inroads of Islamic influence, now their terror is focused on this new health threat. Within five years one third of...

Authorities brace for Avian FluNorway's Directorate for Health and Social Affairs has recommended that stores of influenza medicine be increased as a precaution against a possible pandemic.The World Health Organization (WHO) assesses the Avian Flu outbreak in Southeast Asia as a potential forerunner of a global influenza epidemic due to its high fatality rate and the danger of it mutating to a form even more dangerous to humans.Norway's health authorities said Wednesday that stocks of influenza remedy Tamiflu be increased from 200,000 ten-pill cures to 1.4 million.Authorities also suggested the purchase of 12 million daily doses of the medication amantadine,...

Bubonic Plague Traced to Ancient Egypt Cameron Walker for National Geographic News March 10, 2004 The bubonic plague, or Black Death, may have originated in ancient Egypt, according to a new study. "This is the first time the plague's origins in Egypt have been backed up by archaeological evidence," said Eva Panagiotakopulu, who made the discovery. Panagiotakopulu is an archaeologist and fossil-insect expert at the University of Sheffield, England. King Tutankhamun lies in his burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Some researchers now believe that the bubonic plague, or Black Death, originated in the village where builders...

Issue 11.04 - April 2003 Pg 1 of 3>> Print, email, orfax this article for free. The Bacteria WhispererBonnie Bassler discovered a secret about microbes that the science world has missed for centuries. The bugs are talking to each other. And plotting against us.By Steve SilbermanTrim and hyperkinetic at 40, Bonnie Bassler is often mistaken for a graduate student at conferences. Five mornings a week at dawn, she walks a mile to the local YMCA to lead a popular aerobics class. When a representative from the MacArthur Foundation phoned last fall, the caller played coy at first, asking Bassler if...

Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Last modified at 11:44 a.m. on Tuesday, January 21, 2003© 2003 - The Lubbock Avalanche-JournalGet an AJ: Subscribe | Tech researcher charged in plague scare released from jail BY ELIZABETH LANGTON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A Texas Tech researcher accused of lying about missing plague bacteria was released from jail Tuesday after posting $100,000 bond. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, 61, had been held since Wednesday, a day after authorities say he falsely reported that 30 vials containing a bacteria that can be developed into bubonic plague were missing from his lab. Butler later admitted to fabricating that story to...

FBI: Texas Professor Confesses in Plague Scare and Commentrary by Patricia Doyle, PhDLUBBOCK (Reuters) - A Texas Tech University professor has admitted to starting a scare that led to a massive anti-terrorism investigation by accidentally destroying 30 vials containing the bacteria that causes plague, according to court documents obtained on Thursday. Thomas Butler, chief of the infectious diseases division in the West Texas university's medical school, made a brief appearance in federal court in Lubbock to hear the criminal complaint against him. He was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of making false statements to federal investigators. A magistrate judge ordered...

Professor arrested in connection with missing plague 01/16/2003 Associated Press LUBBOCK, Texas - A professor at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center was arrested Wednesday night and accused of giving false information to the FBI about 30 vials of plague reported missing at the university. U.S. Attorney Dick Baker said Dr. Thomas C. Butler was arrested on a complaint of false statement to a federal agent. Baker said Butler said the vials were missing as of Jan. 11 when "truth in fact, as he well knew, he had destroyed them prior to that." Baker wouldn't say if Butler...

Plague samples reported missing from Texas Tech 01/15/2003 Associated Press LUBBOCK - Vials containing samples of lethal bubonic plague have disappeared from Texas Tech University, and the FBI was investigating, authorities said Wednesday. A statement from the university said vials of bubonic plague, being used to improve treatment of plague victims, were reported missing to campus police on Tuesday. Thirty-five vials were believed missing from the school's Health Sciences Center, said Frank Morrison, a Lubbock city councilman, who told CNN he was briefed by emergency officials. There was no indication that a theft has occurred, Mr. Morrison said. A...

BREAKING NEWS Bubonic plague samples reported stolen from a lab in Lubbock. Details to come.

Man admitted to a NY hospital has Bubonic Plague but Greta from Fox News is reporting that health officials say the man got it naturally and its nothing to worry about. They also admitted a woman, who had been traveling with the infected man.

TOKYO - A self-confessed Japanese war criminal called on the government to apologise for testing biological weapons on thousands of Chinese prisoners yesterday in advance of a legal ruling on the activities of a germ warfare unit during the second world war Yoshio Shinozuka, a veteran of the top-secret Unit 731, told reporters he had done what no man should do in developing bubonic plague viruses and conducting vivisections on captives near Harbin in China. "These human beings were called logs. We said we have chopped one log, two logs," the frail and bespectacled 78-year-old said. "This unit cruelly murdered...