Thanks to the re-emergence of bacteria that caused the Plague but only this time resistant to antibiotics, scientists believe that a pandemic like the “Black Death” could occur again.
As an indicator of how serious this can get, almost 75 million people died in the 14th century due to “The Plague”, and which affected world population levels drastically during that time. Further still, the Great Plague in Marseille during the years of 1720 and 1723 killed almost 100000 people in all.
This is because the Plague affects the lungs and is extremely contagious as evidenced by the aforementioned numbers.
According to the study’s findings, which was published in Infection, Genetics and Evolution, scientists think that the resurgence of the plague is possible due to factors such as trade, transport but mostly because drug-resistant pathogens are beginning to reveal themselves and their ability to transmit very quickly.
The study’s authors have also found that the way bacteria infect mammals now and are able to survive in their bloodstream has also changed genetically.
This is also the reason why the authors have stressed the necessity for the management of epidemics in coming years as this will have a negative impact on tourism along with the prevention of widespread panic. Based on prior occurrences, epidemics were kept under control by not only providing relevant information about these diseases but also taking clear steps to manage an epidemic.
The US Food and Drug Administration have already approved a drug called levaquin for this purpose but also to deal with bioterrorist attacks in the future.