ABSTRACT
Plague is one of the oldest recorded infectious diseases. It has caused at least three major pandemics at approximately 600-year intervals in history. The rst pandemic began in Egypt and spread through the Middle East to Europe in the sixth century. The second plague occurred during the fourteenth century and was called The Black Death. It began in the area of the Black Sea and spread to Europe. It was responsible for the death of more than a quarter of Europe’s population. The third pandemic began in 1855 in China, Egypt, Portugal, Japan, Paraguay, Eastern Africa, Manila, Scotland, Australia, and the United States. This infection is believed to have caused more than 150 epidemics of varying degrees until the 1950s.1-4
Because The Black Death was, according to historical accounts, characterized by swellings in the groin (known as buboes), as was the modern third pandemic that started in Asia in the nineteenth century, scientists and historians have assumed that the earlier pandemic was an outbreak of the same disease. This led to the conclusion that The Black Death was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by eas with the help of rodent reservoirs. However, buboes are features of other diseases as well, and this view has been questioned by some.1
