How One Bacterium can Affect the World, in Past and Present: A Review of Yersinia Pestis.

The bubonic plague devastated parts of Europe multiple times throughout the Middle Ages, though none so drastically as the Black Death. The Black Death, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, took the lives of well over one-third of the population of Europe. The chaos of mass infection and velocity at which it spread changed the European population and how it viewed their society and its practices. This review of the Black Death highlights specific changes in medicine, economics, religion and various cultural aspects of Europe as a result of the Black Death. Furthermore this presentation will address the current issues and concerns surrounding the plague and the possibility of future pandemics