21st century plague discovered by scientists

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A new disease that is passed from rats to humans via fleas, much like the Black

Death, has been discovered by scientists.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Last Updated: 7:48PM GMT 24 Nov 2008

The bacteria can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat

fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in

humans.

 

Research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown

rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the

bacteria.

 

Since the early 1990s, more than 20 species of Bartonella bacteria have been

discovered. They are considered to be emerging pathogens, because they can cause

serious illness in humans worldwide from heart disease to infection of the

spleen and nervous system.

 

" A new species called Bartonella rochalimae was recently discovered in a patient

with an enlarged spleen who had travelled to South America, " said Professor

Chao-Chin Chang from the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.

 

" This event raised concern that it could be a newly emerged pathogens.

Therefore, we decided to investigate further to understand if rodents living

close to human environment could carry this bacteria. "

 

Scientists have found that rodents carry several pathogenic species of

Bartonella, such as B. elizabethae, which can cause endocarditis and B.

grahamii, which was found to cause neuroretinitis in humans. Although scientists

are unsure about the main route of transmission, these infections are most

likely to be spread by fleas.

 

Ctenophthalmus nobilis, a flea that lives on bank voles, was shown to transmit

different species of Bartonella bacteria. These pathogens have also been found

in fleas that live on gerbils, cotton rats and brown rats.

 

The researchers took samples from 58 rodents, including 53 brown rats, two mice

(Mus musculus) and three black rats (Rattus rattus).

 

Six of the rodents were found to be carrying Bartonella bacteria; 5 of these

were brown rats. Four of the rodents were carrying B. elizabethae, which can

cause heart disease in humans, and one of the black rats was found to be

harbouring B. tribocorum.

 

The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely

thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis, or Bubonic

plague.

 

It was spread by rodents in the 14th century and centuries after that, killing

an estimated 75 million people worldwide.

 

 

 

 

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