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Biosecurity Briefing
Researchers Concerned about Growing Threat of Plague By Molly D’Esopo, January 18, 2008 Several news reports released this week highlighted a study published in the journal PLoS Medicine about the growing threat of plague.1 Plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and it is carried by rodents. There are two types of the disease—bubonic, which is spread by fleas and was primarily responsible for the “Black Death” during the medieval period, and the more deadly pneumonic, which is “spread from one person to another through coughing or sneezing.”2 According to the PLoS Medicine study, “Over the last 20 years, there have been 1,000 to 5,000 human cases of plague and 100 to 200 deaths reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) each year. However, because of poor diagnostic facilities and underreporting, the number of cases is almost certainly much higher.”1 Additionally, BBC News reported that “up to 20” cases of plague are reported in the U.S. each year.”3 In the BBC report, one of the study’s researchers, Professor Michael Begon of the University of Liverpool, noted that “Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa.”3 ScienceDaily notes that “more than 90% of all cases and deaths in the last five years [have occurred] in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).”4 Left untreated, plague is highly lethal, a factor contributing to the growing concerns of researchers. According to the Center for Biosecurity’s Plague Fact Sheet, “pneumonic plague is highly lethal when untreated or when antibiotic treatment is started more than 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Untreated, the fatality rate of pneumonic plague approaches 100%.” Additionally, a “vaccine for plague is not currently available for civilian use in the United States” although “a U.S. licensed vaccine exists” which “ appears to have some efficacy in preventing or lessening the severity of bubonic disease in a pre-exposure setting; however, it has not been shown to be effective in preventing pneumonic plague, and is no longer commercially available.”5 The BBC article notes that “Professor Begon has called for better research in developing countries and access to life saving drugs to combat the disease,”3 and according to the PLoS study, a series of international meetings have recently been held to discuss this modern plague threat.1 In related news, the Global Security Newswire reported on January 17, 2008 that “samples of bubonic and pneumonic plague have been shipped from Kazakhstan to the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)],” as part of the U.S. Nunn-Lugar program, “which aims to secure and eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.” According to the article, scientists from the U.S. and Kazakhstan will “use the samples in their research on preventive measures and possible cures for the deadly disease, which continues to occur naturally in Central Asia and has been identified as a potential bioterrorism agent.”6 References
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