PLAGUE ::
This is an infectious disease caused by Pasteurella pestis It is one of the most terrifying formidable and fatal infectious diseases The infection of plague has been reported to kill 70% of the population plague spreads from house to house street to street village and province to province unless checked in the beginning by effective preventive measures
Till nineteenth centuary superstition and ignorance allowed many legends and literature continued to describe plague as a great killer However in 1894 Yersin Alexander discovered that this disease is caused by bacilli Pasteurella pestis The first record of plague is found in Athens (430 BC ) Rome had one of the worst ancient epidemic in 262 AD killing almost 5000 people per day its spread was reported to china india Russia and Europe in 1334-51 in 1665-66 about 150000 people died in London and in india 12.5 million people died during 1898-1918 However with the discovery of antibiotics and desire of man to win over diseases brought the mortality due to this disease to a very low level in 1959 only 300 cases of plague were reported by WHO The disease lost the ill fame in india with the same rapidity Since 1967 the figue for human plague cases in india was frozen to zero However it was exactly after 100 years of the identification of plague bacteria by Alexander Yersin in Sept 1994 Surat the diamond city of india witnessed a new attack by this old disease first few days were shocking as young adults died and many started reporting with symptoms of probable pneumonic plague Soon Government took immediate action and with the availability of antibiotics media for conveying the message and awareness in the people this disease was under absolute control
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