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It's not just rats: body lice may have also helped spread the bubonic plague.

It's not just rats: body lice may have also helped spread the bubonic plague.
It's not just rats: body lice may have also helped spread the bubonic plague.

 


The bubonic plague epidemic of the 14th century was notable not only for its death toll, but also for 25 million in Europe alone As for the horror of the disease itself, scientists have long blamed rat-borne fleas for the rapid spread of the plague, but recent research has pointed to body lice as another culprit.

a study According to a study published in the journal PLOS Biology, body lice are capable of transmitting disease. Plague Yersinia pestisBody lice, the bacteria that causes the plague, are more effective vectors of the disease than previously thought. Previous studies have focused on rodent-borne fleas as vectors of the plague. However, the role that body lice play in transmitting the plague remains unclear, despite growing evidence that rodents are only partly responsible for past pandemics.

Unlike head lice, which live and breed on the human scalp, body lice live and breed in the seams of human clothing and bedding, jumping onto their host's body multiple times a day to suck blood.

The researchers used an artificial, skin-like membrane to simulate how plague-infected lice could transmit the disease to humans. In one scenario, the lice were fed blood from an infected human and then placed on “skin” to feed, simulating the spread of infection by infected lice jumping from person to person. In another scenario, the lice were fed infected blood, isolated for 18 hours, and then allowed to feed again, similar to how infected lice could jump from clothing or bedding to humans.

Up to 60% of lice in both groups remained infected for a week, and all were able to transmit the disease. Directly infected lice became infectious within just 24 hours of feeding on plague-infected blood.

Surprisingly, even lice whose feces showed no traces of the plague were found to be infectious. This discovery led to other experiments that showed that lice infected with Pawlowski's glands, glands in the head thought to be involved in saliva secretion, could “routinely” transmit enough plague to infect humans.

The researchers note that body lice suck more blood than fleas, and that infested humans tend to scratch. Given these factors, and the tendency of body lice with infected Pawlwocky glands to transmit enough bacteria to infect humans, the researchers conclude that the tiny creatures are likely “better vectors of Yersinia pestis than previously thought.”

Sources

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2/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/01/body-lice-bubonic-plague-research/

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