Living with the Black Death

Simulation of the use of Yersinia pestis as a Biological Weapon in Nigeria

“…Few models have been done to alert on the seriousness of potential agents of bioterror especially Y. pestis in developing countries especially of African origin and yet agents of bioterror are easy and relatively cheap to develop and possess [5,6,11,14,17]. Nigeria has been reported to have experienced plague infection but very little is known about the Nigerian situation and little has been studied on this potential agent of bioterror [12,23].…”

“…Yersinia pestis is a gram negative, non-motile, non-sporulating bacterium and belongs to the family enterobacteriaceae of γ-Proteobacteria of which it is a biochemically unreactive member [3,4]. It is the aetiological agent of perhaps the most well documented and devastating epidemic ever known to man called plague ("bubonic plague", "pneumonic plague", "septicaemic plague", "black death") which is a dreaded killer of humans and animals that still persists and is endemic in some countries across the globe [5,6]. Over 200 species of mammals are susceptible to infection by this agent [7] and it has been credited with the death of about 200 million people in human history [8].…”