Ebola – Part III

Working with Deadly Pathogens Because Ebola is highly contagious, health care workers in the U.S. wear protective equipment (Personal Protective Equipment-PPE) to prevent transmission.  Items worn include: Mask: Prevents infectious agents from getting into mucus membranes inside the mouth nose or eyes. Gloves: Keep broken skin from contact with infectious fluids r needle sticks.  workers…

Ebola – Do We Really Need to Worry? Part I

How does Ebola spread to humans?  Good question to ponder.  Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.  In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected fruit bats, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, forest antelope, and porcupines found ill or dead…

Bubonic Plaguer: The 411-First and second recorded Outbreaks-Part 4

The first recorded outbreak: The first recorded epidemic ravaged the Byzantine Empire during the sixth century, and was named the Plague of Justinian after emperor Justinian I, who was infected but survived through extensive treatment.  The epidemic is estimated to have killed approximately 50 million people in the Roman Empire alone. The historian Procopius wrote,…

Bubonic Plague: The 411 How is it Treated? Part 3

Several classes of antibiotics are effective in treating bubonic plague. These include aminoglycosides such as streptomycin and gentamicin, tetracyclines (especially doxycycline), and the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Mortality associated with treated cases of bubonic plague is about 1–15%, compared to a mortality of 40–60% in untreated cases. People potentially infected with the plague need immediate treatment and…

Bubonic Plague the 411 Part 1

Bubonic plague Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly in fleas on small rodents, and is one of three types of bacterial infections caused by Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Pasteurella pestis), that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within four days. The…