An interesting documentary.

[G0BHD]

Saw one on the plague, the Bubonic plague that is.
The two most notable being the Justinian plague around 541 onwards, and hundreds of years later the Black death plague of course that killed up to possibly 200 million people in the 14th century.
(A third quite large one sprang up around 1894 in Yunnan China.)
For many years scientists have been convinced they were just two different strains of exactly the same microbe, and thus both related to the Bubonic plague microbe as it is understood,
A new set of research by top bacteriologist and virologist experts now casts doubt on that close link.
They studied in depth the symptoms presented, the rate of spread, and potential type of spread, and have come to the conclusion that the two diseases were most likely completely different in origin.
Many symptoms were shared between the two, making them look very similar,but the second wave had symptoms not associated with the first plague, namely numerous accounts of people coughing up blood, and bleeding from the eyes, nose, through their skin, and even ears.
On the way it spread the first seemed to spread quite randomly which falls in line with the random contact with infected fleas transmission theory, the second plague seemed to spread mainly from person to person, and closely transmitted among family groups first, then further afield to neighbors, and on from there, and it also seemed to spread far quicker, which gives them the impression that at least in part it could have had an airbourne transmission aspect to it, something the first plague didn't seem to have.
Their conclusion was that it was quite possibly some form of Viral hemorrhagic fever, rather than a flea bourne bacterial microbe of the Yersinia pestis type, and possibly very similar or even related to Ebola in its general symptoms.
And even proposed the theory it could have been actually been two pandemics running alongside each other, hence the huge amounts of Global deaths, some down to actual Y-pestis plague, the others down to a viral hemorrhagic fever, but with the similar symptoms they all got lumped under Bubonic plague.
They don't 100% know for sure of course, but its a current educated considered working theory.
Was quite an interesting documentary never the less..

[M0VMT]

We are always going to have plagues/viruses around while ever their is life on the round ball
I've not been watching much tv of late I can't be bothered with the tripe her indoors views.

[G4PPB]

Unfortunately I missed that programme.
Did it mention the recent outbreak of Bubonic plague in Suji Xincun village, Inner Mongolia, China?
Apparently there has been 1 fatality there and I'm sure I read of a second, a few days ago, bit I'm not sure if it was the same outbreak, albeit in China.
I'm not religious but sometimes I wonder if the doomsday merchants know something i don't!

[G0BHD]

Unfortunately I missed that programme.
Did it mention the recent outbreak of Bubonic plague in Suji Xincun village, Inner Mongolia, China?
Apparently there has been 1 fatality there and I'm sure I read of a second, a few days ago, bit I'm not sure if it was the same outbreak, albeit in China.
I'm not religious but sometimes I wonder if the doomsday merchants know something i don't!

Yes they did mention that the true Y-Pestis infection was still occurring even in modern times, and flares up from time to time in various global locations, China was mentioned, as well as apparently a very recent outbreak in some part of Mexico?
They did add that today it is often successfully treated with modern antibiotics, of course the poor souls back then didn't have them to hand.
They based their findings on human to human transmission, the plague is mainly carried by a certain strain of animal flea, and when the second wave seemed to involve people to people transmission it was assumed back some time ago, that human fleas also did the same.
However experiments in labs proved contrary to that old theory.
The bacteria specifically targets a certain animal genus of flea, on becoming infected it stops the body of the flea from digesting the blood it has taken on board from whatever infected source, and as such a "resevoir" of active blood stays in its system, and when it bites something else is actively regurgitated that stockpile and infects the new host.
In human fleas they found this process does not happen, and if the the flea digests the batch of blood from its last source host before it bites the next new one, the bacteria is effectively neutralised, and any cross spread can only come from trace amounts of blood left on its probosis, thus greatly reducing the possibility of infecting the next host.
That's why they came to the conclusion that the spread and symptoms combined seemed to be pointing to quite a different viral infection, with very similar physical attributes, as opposed to the well known bacterial microbe one.
They also stressed that they have been unable to prove this theory, as exhumed skeletal remains of known at the time victims have to date failed to provide any residual infection DNA traces, they put that down to burial practices at the time, bodies were often burned and then buried, or buried in lime filled mass pits, both actions destroying any infection DNA evidence that would help prove it one way or the other.
It was very interesting.