The Death Of Antiqua, Pestis And The Black Death
This change in the genome of Y. pseudotuburculosis actually yielded eight separate populations of the species Y. pestis, distinct only in the slight variations of their DNA (Achtman et al., 2004). These distinct populations are known as biovars. Three of these biovars, known as Antiqua, Medievalis, and Orientalis, have started endemic plagues: the Justinian plague in the sixth century, the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and the modern plague in the …show more content…
The Black Death, named due to the gangrene, or necrosis, that many infected individuals experienced, had many symptoms than increased the risk of transmittance. These symptoms included the blockage and swelling of lymph nodes, creating what is known as a bubo which the doctors believed should be popped, excessive vomiting of blood, and coughing. Though not inherently contagious from person to person, the popping of the buboes where the bacteria resided often caused the disease to progress to septicemic plague, which allowed the blood to become infected which in turn allowed infected individuals to transfer the Y. pestis without the need of a host