Under the microscope, Yersinia pestis doesn't look particularly special. It's a fairly standard shape for a bacterium – a sort of short, round-ended rod – and relatively immobile.

A change to a single gene in the bacterium Yersinia pestis has enabled one of the world’s most notorious pathogens to survive for centuries.

Bubonic plague has a case-fatality ratio of 30% to 60% when left untreated, while pneumonic plague, when left untreated, is always fatal, according to WHO.

The bubonic plague wiped out tens of millions of people in Europe in the 14th century — gaining the grim label the Black Death.In 2024, a handful of cases arise each year in the United States ...

The bubonic plague, which is caused by a bacterial infection, was chillingly known as “Black Death” when it wiped out some 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe in the Middle Ages.

Yersinia pestis continued infecting people in three separate pandemics over more than a thousand years. Read more at ...

However, modern-day bubonic plague can also become serious if not treated on time, and people need to see a doctor as soon as possible. Register now for one of the Evening Standard’s newsletters.

The plague — which in the mid-14th century was also known as the Black Death — devastated swaths of Europe, killing millions in under a decade. One of the puzzles surrounding this ancient ...

Under the microscope, Yersinia pestis doesn't look particularly special. ... The very mention of the words bubonic plague tends to provoke both fear and fascination even today.