The Importance Of The Bubonic Plague

From the years 1340 to 1400, a plague known as Y Pestis - more commonly known as the Bubonic Plague, - ravaged Europe, killing swathes of people each day. By the time it subsided, more than one third of the population of Eeurope would rest in mass graves. We like to think this could never happen again; after all, it would appear that the Plague has been long cured. While it is true that the plagues and many other old age pandemic diseases are now easily treatable with modern medicine, it is important to remember that bacteria, the microscopic creatures that cause disease, are alive too. No cure lasts forever, as bacteria, like humans and other animals, can adapt to the harsh environments of a medically augmented body. Plagues are making a comeback, and we as a species have to do something about it.

In nature, when an environment begins to favor a specific trait, the organisms without that trait begin to die out quite rapidly, and the organisms with said trait thrive. This is called a selective environment, and is the driving force behind evolution. This process usually takes a very long time, often centuries in larger ecosystems;, however, in the small, densely occupied biosphere of the human body, it can happen in days. Any bacteria that survives an antibiotic attack will, like a human to a virus, develop an immunity to said chemical and be able to fight it off rather effortlessly if it is attacked again. While this survival is rare, bacteria possess an ability no other organism is capable of; the transfer of DNA. An immune bacteria can share its immunity with dead bacterium, even bringing them back to life. These specimens are called