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RESEARCH ARTICLE

The historic effect of plague

John Whitehall
+ Author Affiliations
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School of Medicine
University of Western Sydney
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith South DC, NSW 2751, Australia
Tel: +61 2 4620 3787
Fax: +61 2 4620 3891
Email: john.whitehall@uws.edu.au

Microbiology Australia 35(3) 130-132 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA14044
Published: 31 July 2014

Abstract

As palaeopathology appears to have confirmed Yersinia pestis as the organism responsible for all three pandemics of plague (Justinian1,2, Black Death3 and Modern), arguments for the origin of the disasters have given way to debates on their effects. Records narrate the horrors but barely hint at historical results4. This article maintains each pandemic has had a lasting effect and, cumulatively, Y. pestis has been more influential than gun powder and could still be explosive.


References

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