They called it black death because the skin sores were large black scabs and welts.. This attempted racial pinning is as bad as the a$$ who sued because they called hard drives master and slave.. News flash, blacks were not the only enslaved race in the worlds history.. But some liberal judge in California ruled in favor, yep the land of fruits and nuts.....

It has nothing to do with the race of the people who died, if you bothered to know anything about history. It's because the skin around people's lymph nodes became necrotic - which means the skin turned black and died.

Scientists Sre now looking at the surviving ancesters that did not die from the plague that handled the bodies that died from it. They hope to find the gene that prevented them for getting it. Hoping to find the gene that can stop it all together. They are making great progress there . I hope they can figure it out and end this for good with a vaccine . Good luck out there.

@The Imperial,

Pretty successful troll. Mostly just a bad joke but worked as a troll so that adds to the value I guess.

Using black or dark as bad or evil, and white or light as good or pure is a practice that's many thousands of years old. It started because the night is dark and dangerous and the day is light and much safer. Before modern lights people were scared of the dark. Many animals hunt at night and enemies can sneak up on you. But the day is safer you can see danger coming and those unexplained noises can be identified. Black people shouldn't be offended by this practice since they have always used these words to describe these same things. If anything black people should be offended at being called black since they are brown. It may well be that who ever started calling black people black may have meant it in a insulting or demeaning way.

They called it black death because the skin sores were large black scabs and welts.. This attempted racial pinning is as bad as the a$$ who sued because they called hard drives master and slave.. News flash, blacks were not the only enslaved race in the worlds history.. But some liberal judge in California ruled in favor, yep the land of fruits and nuts.....

It never went to court. All that happened was that electronics vendors who do business with Los Angeles County were "requested" to refrain from using the "master/slave" terminology on equipment sold to the county.

Here's the snopes.com link. http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp

Jym Allyn,

I hate when people say stupid sh!t like that...but if we're gonna go there, I'd have to disagree, he sounds much more like an Obama supporter...

:)

The Imperial is probably a Rmoney/Lyan supporter.

Jym - You are too ignorant to even spell the names correctly. Why is that not surprising, considering that you are obviously an Obama supporter?

Once again abject stupidity rears it's pathetic little head. Attempts to twist this into something political are beyond pitiful. The Black Death, as others have noted was so named as a result of the horrific swellings and necrotic tissue death. The victims literally blew up, their extremities turned black and buboes, or massive swellings and sores, is why the disease is also called the Bubonic Plague.

http://hardinmd.lib.uiowa.edu/cdc/plague5.html

For those too lazy to educate themselves...and for those who want to see what this dreadful disease does.

How on God's green earth did a scientific discussion on Bubonic Plague, commonly known as the Black Death, turn into a discussion on race and deteriorate into political name-calling?

It boggles my mind.

"Bring out yer dead", "Bring out yer dead"

"But I'm not dead yet"!

"Yes you are".

Tina

Any article brings these political trolls out. I doubt there is an article on MSN that doesn't have these people calling each other names, and coming up with the flavor of the day name play insult for the candidate they don't like. They are just trying to get a rise out of each other. Flaming each other like 7th grade girls. Chances are they should just get a room, and get it over with.

It never ceases to amaze me how fast a message board turns from the original subject into a political one. Why can't anyone stay on topic??

Jym Allyn, Tellya What,

You seem to be lost, this isn't First Read! Get over there, Fiesty and Backhouse are waiting for you!

Looking at the amount of replies I'd say The Imperial did what he/she wanted which is get attention aka troll, nothing really about the post has I'm 100% black on it. To me it was a bad joke to get response and it worked. Yes i too responded i guess but could not resist.

Looks like we have our own plague going on in this thread.

Time it met its destiny - collapse.

Old dog, the political discussion was started by your friend road to run or whatever. and jessica, how would you think he is an Obama supporter when he calls a judge from cali liberal and living in the nuts and trees?

Cool discovery though.

It was a test how we will react in the event of outplace comment or statement. It is also to test how swiftly we can and will go after one that demonizes us. Just like all lab experiments or statistical trials I threw something out there to see the level of reaction. Sure enough we can be defensive very quickly and pull all the strings necessary with nbcnews.com or any other media to suppress “collapse” comments even if it means to violate freedom of speech. What should have I done. “Self-sensor”. That is no longer freedom of speech, is it? Call it a meat among the sheep to identify which of the sheep is a wolf in sheep skin. Not everyone easily gets offended by simple comment but some will draw fiery sword and go on verbal rampage. Now you understand the world we have created around us is so negative which has an inverse relationship to how we react. We should recognize others feeling just as much we recognize our feeling as well.

Yeah, well thanks for that swell social experiment. Which proved exactly what? That we're a bunch of divided, in-fighting individuals trying to push our own agendas and opinions? Welcome to America, pal.

And by the way, this close to a presidential election, everything has a potential political spin.

RE: The Imperial: The man is an uneducated individual who cannot write a coherent sentence, does not know English, and is posting most likely from the Middle East.

Yes, he is entitled to free speech even if it is rubbish.

sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death using DNA extracted from plague victims

and

It is the first time an ancient disease has been reconstructed,

Nowhere does it say they resurrected anything. They mapped the genome. That means they have the sequences of Gs, As, Ts, and Cs. Nothing more or less. There would be a lot more work to reconstruct the actual gene sequence and then insert it into a virus. Not impossible, but not easy either. The plague already also exists in nature, so if someone wanted to use it for biological warfare all they would have to do is gather some rodents from out West and they could get plague vectors much more easily than re-constructing them in the lab.

There are remnants of WW2 Japanese balloons out west, but from everything I've heard they were intended to start fires, no plague involved.

Japanese used plague infected fleas in China not the US. They sent incendiary bombs hung from balloons to the US along the jet stream.

and also says genetic variants

Our government holds samples of every biological nasty known. In the event it is used against us we need to be able to formulate prevention/treatment.

I think some things may be better off buried. I understand the want to analyze and find a cure, but something this dangerous is nothing to be toyed with. It's just my thought on it, and I know it won't go away on its own, but it's playing with fire.

The disease is alive and well, no need to dig up plague victims to resurrect it. It isn't spread by human to human interaction, fleas are the vector. The biowarfare 'scientists' have had access to it for many years. If you want to create a super-bug, bio-warfare disease, look to influenza.

Pneumonic form is spread from person to person. Also is 90% fatal if untreated.

Oh boy here we go.

First of all most of us are the descendants of the survivors of the plague. Anyone here have knowledge of genetics care to inform the rest as to why it wouldn't be a huge deal for most of us these days? Furthermore the plague was never 'wiped out' it simply peaked and went away as ALL pandemics do. It still exists today and a couple hundred a year get it. Most do not die - from ANY form.

Modern medical care is one reason. The other is genetics. Those who survived contained specific genetic attributes that allowed for that. Guess what? We pass those attributes on to our offspring (that's what we are).

As for it being 90% fatal - yes, it is. Only for those who's ancestors never encountered the bacteria. China and India never encountered it so when there was an outbreak in the last century millions died. For those who had ancestors that encountered it the bacteria is much less deadly. You're looking at a 40-60% (high estimate) mortality rate for those people if no medical care is given and they have moderate health issues. Of course with medical care it falls below the 15-20% line. For the younger population with prior genetic exposure the mortality rate is far less, with medical care it's only around 1-5%. The average mortality rate for any given person is only about 10%.

Mygirl - it's not initially spread by humans. It's spread by fleas and rates (the reservoir). That's referred to as Bubonic. The pneumonic version is spread from human to human as it's contained in the lungs. So yes, it is spread person to person during the communicable period. Septicemic is the version in which the blood becomes infected. It's actually the worst. as with most other blood infections.

yep, they only are "reconstructing" it to be used. although, they have much worse biological weaponry at thier disposal.. even race specific bio weaponz , and we all know vaccines are not meant to help, which contain murcury (thermasol) , phemaldehyde, even anti-freeze and msg, aluminum, detergents, ect, ect.. and ect...

Exactly... it sounds like a method the ruling elite is planning on using for population reduction.

Now, now.

Buy a cat. They eat the rodents. It's been said this was part of the problem in the Dark Ages. They got all superstitions against cats and killed them, which resulted in rat problems.

Cats are tougher than dogs anyway. God made domestic cats smaller to protect dogs. Put a cat and a dog of about equal size together and see what happens.

Funny you should mention....

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/19/13961542-oregon-plague-victim-loses-fingers-and-toes

An Oregon man who nearly died from the plague in June has now lost his withered fingers and toes to the disease known as the Black Death.

Doctors amputated the blackened extremities of Paul "Steve" Gaylord in an
operation that lasted 2 1/2 hours Monday at the St. Charles Medical Center in
Bend.

The 60-year-old Prineville man told The Oregonian ( http://is.gd/eOaxzB) the surgery was a success but painful.

He says he's happy to be alive and wants to get out of pain and be able to
walk and do things for himself. He faces months of physical therapy.

Gaylord was infected in June when he tried to take a mouse out of the throat
of his choking cat.

In addition to this (yikes!):

PORTLAND — A woman who tried to help her
friend save the life of a choking cat also contracted the plague from the
disease-stricken feline over the summer, health officials said Friday.

The central Oregon woman, who asked not to be identified, has recovered since
contracting the disease in June. She was treated after showing early
symptoms.

The woman was bitten at the same time as Paul Gaylord, who made national
headlines when he almost died from a version of the infection that killed
millions in the Middle Ages.

Plague is a bacterial illness spread through the bite of infected fleas or
through direct contact with an infected animal or person. The disease is now
extremely rare. There are about seven cases a year in the U.S.

The two had found a stray cat in distress, choking on a mouse. They were
bitten when they tried unsuccessfully to help the animal.

The 60-year-old Gaylord spent nearly a month on life support. The woman,
identified only as a Gaylord family friend, was out of the area when she started
showing symptoms, including fever, chills and pain in the lymph nodes. She was
treated with antibiotics at a Portland hospital.

"We got to her just in time," said Karen Yeargain of the Crook County Health
Department.

"If this hadn't happened, we would have had another critically ill person on
our hands," she added.

Health officials suspected the woman had the plague, but it was not confirmed
until lab results from the federal Centers for Disease Control came back last
week, Yeargain said.

I'll take my dog anytime over a cat.

sounds like he lost his toes and fingers to the doctors, they are the ones that cut them off....

I just saw something on the History Channel or one of those science shows about just that very question. Fascinating show. They attribute the survival rate of that time to a mutation that some people inherit, something called Delta 32:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCR5

CCR5-Δ32 is a deletion mutation of a gene that has a specific impact on the function of T cells.^[11]At least one copy of CCR5-Δ32 is found in about (5-14%) of people of Northern European and in those of Northern European descent. There also is a small minority (1%) with the same mutation amongst Southern Europeans or Balkan Peninsula. It has been hypothesized
that this allele was favored by natural selection during the Black Death for
Northern Europeans. Prostitution in areas such as Corinth in Ancient Greece could have also infected those who partook in prostitution, as a similar virus existed which had flu-like symptoms and later continued to weaken the immune system of those infected. It was at the time not known how it was spread but the Plague of Athens or many future diseases in the Balkans could have also influenced the genetic mutations. ^[12]
This coalescence date is contradicted by purported evidence of CCR5-Δ32 in Bronze Age samples, at levels comparable to the modern European population.^[13] Smallpox may be another candidate for the high level of the mutation in the European population.^[9]

A couple of years ago, there was a case of a man with AIDS who had a bone marrow transplant and was "cured" of the disease. It turned out that the donor was a delta 32 carrier.

Good stuff, go delta force.

Shakalac:

Really interesting, thanks for sharing that info!!

keebeetoys...you pose an interesting question. First, the mutation in the CCR5 chemokine receptor has nothing to do with this, this mutation stops HIV from entering T cells.

Good health and immunity, maybe, but Yersinia spreads so quickly in our bodies it outstrips the immune response by several days.

Hygiene, almost certainly. In those days people wore the same clothes continually and almost never washed. This was a haven for the fleas.

Luck, maybe. Population movement, disruption of the ecological niche of the rat vector [a similar thing possibly happened to the tarabagan ["Pharaoh's rat"] that brought the disease out of Mongolia in the first place to Caffa on the Black Sea in 1346], isolation... the aristocracy ran for it [the Pope fled to Avignon, etc]. The English King insisted in sitting between two fires [fleas dislike such heat] this may have saved him.

Will you be saying the same thing if you contract the Plague, Max^108?

So you do not think there are way too many people on earth, straining the environment in every possible way? If I got the plague, I would deal with it. There are worse problems in life.

I bet you're a "loving Christan", right?

paganponderer you should be ashamed of yourself.

Even suggesting such a thing is despicable.

I bet you're a "loving Christan", right?

Wow, really? Considering the posters tag is paganponderer, I am going to go out on a limb and say they probably don't identify themselves as a Christian. Way to think out of the box and let go of your preconceived notions though.

paganponderer

"If the Black Death ever spreads again and the West finds a cure..." Read the article again, they clearly state that the disease is curable with antibiotics if treated early! Do you really think there's ANY part of the world that doesn't know about antibiotics?

Ever hear of MRSA bacteria? Resistant to antibiotics...

Fortunately for MRSA at least I have a plant capable of killing it.

You can be a "loving Christian" and at the same time want to protect yourself from the savages that are waging war on America at this very moment. It's called self-defense. You can defend yourself and still be a loving Christian. Can you wrap your little brain around that concept?

I just saw your name - liberal. Educating you is not possible.

You can be a "loving Christian" and at the same time want to protect yourself from the savages that are waging war on America at this very moment.

Odd, because the savages I fear most are "loving Xtians." You know they want to stick a wands in my wife's uterus before allowing her to get medical procedures? Do you know they are working concertedly to instill their religious beliefs in OUR government?

Savages...educating them is possible, but first they must unlearn what they think they know.

Julles50

There is a big difference between defending yourself and your country and randomly infecting millions of innocent men, women, and children with a horrible disease.

I agree, no one should randomly infect millions of people.

Should nature decide to do the job though, like it has many times in the past, the West should let nature take its course and not help those survive that it will likely have to fight in a war later.

And # 10

Could you name a logical reason why civilization should ever lift a hand to help the Muslims? If they want to live in the 7th century, with their 7th century beliefs and culture, let them treat an epidemic with their 7th century medicines, and leave the rest of the civilized world alone. It is curious though how pragmatic right wing religious fanatics can be about science when it comes to curing a disease though, including conservatives in the US, funny that.

Funny term crackpot, does that include liberal crackpots who depict a Republican elephant taking a crap?

The image is called "trickledown frown, it depicts "conservative" policys, it's childish and offensive, of course I'm a crackpot.

Want to see my "birth certificate"

hi ponderer: you asked: Could you name a logical reason why civilization should ever lift a hand to help the Muslims?

I know I sound like Jim Carrey in a pet detective movie, but if you believe in God then you must know that God's being a part of every individual gives reason for any individual to help another. If you don't believe in God, or even understand the concept, then perhaps one might think we should exterminate them out of the "logical fear" that "they" might do it to "us" first otherwise. I say leave them alone.

Those who brought Muslims, religion, and partisan politics into this need to take their ignorant rantings to another post and leave scientific discussions to those intelligent enough to understand them.

Hi Tina: That is what is so fascinating to me - it always shows up and it is like there is some link (or is it just everywhere?). Do you think it is possible that the solution to reconciling quantum physics with general relativity might actually be being displayed before our eyes, in human terms, as the solution between Jews/Christians/ The World and Muslims? I do, and ever being the optimistic scientific type - I am sure that nothing is insoluble given enough time and study.

Tina, I agree. Everyone who wants a political discussion can go to NBC Politics or First Read! Good-bye trolls!

Funny, but it tends to be the xtians who want to exterminate the muslims, not the people who don't believe in god(s). Though I wish both side would give up their archaic belief systems

Not...Gunny: Like I said, they seem to be designed for mutual annihilation by the same God (there is only One - and if God wants to call somebody 'son' that's fine with me) But here we are off the subject again?

Just picture the same old peasants as there were in the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, etc, only these can get their hands on computers and smart phones.

Bill-that's a funny mental image; reminds me of the short-lived show about the cavemen, where they drove cars and held jobs.

The Europeans weren't thriving after barbarians from outside Europe swarmed in and topped the Eastern & Western Roman empires.

Also I find it amusing that people think that dangerous unshared idealism can be bridged by singing Kumbaya to people who want to slit your throat.

I don't think much of conservatives with their emphasis on boosting the rich, but I think even less of liberals who wouldn't last one week living under Islam. (or maybe they would... they'd just surrender to Allah and become Muslims)

Galactic: We need to study the mutations of people who don't fall into it too. Study it all, and learn it all...eventually everyone does. It's a marvelous plan. Diabolically simple, but the over all effect is astonishing. Happy is...

There's no Mayan prediction of the world ending. The Maya beleived that an extremely long cycle of time will end--and the calendar will roll over to its starting point to begin the Long Count again. Eschatology can be so boring.

If you had read the story, you would know that they are not bringing back the plague. It has never gone away. Just that we outgrew the stupid superstition that cats were the familiars of the devil, began to have trust in science not faith in god(s), and developed ways of countering the diseases of the past. Of course, some of those diseases are coming back because we have people who prefer to have faith in god and eschew science who are taking control of of political system.

The Mayan calender and the prophseys are seperate. Both do exist.

More likely scientists could use genetically engineered phages to kill the plague bacteria.

We don;t need so-called science to mess with more dna of plants/animals or people, the outcome could be far worse than dealing with the current problem. We in the US already habe unchecked /gE genitically engineered foods. Once out you can;t unring the bell.

The "common cold" is actually caused by over a 1000 different virus. So it's a little hard to vaccinate against them all. Best way is to be exposed to them naturally to build your immune system. There are better things to use than Y. pestis.

'Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead!

But I'm not dead.

Shut up, get on the wagon'. Monty Python

I'm getting better.
No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
I don't want to go on the cart.
Oh, don't be such a baby.

paragus, "Science" doesn't use anything to kill millions.

People use things to kill millions.

Tina, good luck, you'll need it here! This discussion is starting to fill up people who listen to too much late night talk radio. They're not even amusing anymore.

The plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is found in ground squirrels throughout the southwest. Along with hantavirus and anthrax.

I mean hantavirus and anthrax can be found in the southwest, not just in ground squirrels.

Easier to cure plague, one cause. Cancer can be genetic, viral, bacterial, radiation. chemical or a combination. Also why do you think so many people are dying from cancer? It's because we found cures for these other disease and people lived longer. So end up dying from a cancer.

Just because she's an inside dog doesn't mean she can't catch anything. There are a few fungal infections that people and dogs can get. Some dispute over transmitting from one to another or acquired at same place/time.

Ever seen a mosquito in your house? They transmit diseases along with other carriers that can enter your home. Mice can bring in the ticks and fleas, so can you. Being an inside pet is no guarantee to not getting a vector borne disease. Protect her as such.

Brewers yeast will not protect your dog from heartworms. You have also given her food and water - maybe those were the reason she does not have fleas.

"...but (please, no!)...I'm feeling better..."

"Oh shut up, ...you're not fooling anyone..." Who is fooling who here?

Comedy about the friggin' Plague, now that takes some pretty heavy doughnuts.

Monty Python, I believe...

:)