Yersinia Pestis: The Black Death

Beginning in 1348, an epidemic of massive proportions struck Western Europe. It spread rapidly from Italy northward. It was referred to as the pestis or pestilential generali, translated as plague. It has been accepted as the great epidemic of the mid-fourteenth century, referred to as the Black Death. This view has been challenged by different scholars from several disciplines. Alexander Yersin identified the bacterial agent of the disease during the Hong Kong epidemic of 1894. First labeled Pasteurella pestis, the bacteria would later be renamed Yersinia pestis in Yersin’s honor.
There are three related Yersinia species, Yersinia pestis, Yersinia pseudo tuberculosis, and Yersinia entercolitica. Yersinia pestis poses a major threat to humans.