One of the most fatal pandemics ever recorded in global history is currently being studied in the lab at DNASU because it continues to impact people in remote countries today.
According to researcher Sharon DeWitte, the Black Death (bubonic plague) was responsible for killing approximately 30-50% of the entire population of Europe during the 14th century and caused over 50 million deaths according to the World Health Organization (National Institutes of Health, 2014).
Plagues are caused by bacteria found in small mammals and their fleas. It can be transmitted in a handful of ways including a flea bite, handling infected animals or the transmission of respiratory droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected human. The plague can take the shape of two clinical forms, bubonic and pneumonic, both of which can cause major health complications and pose life-threatening risks.
Antibiotics created for effective treatment can save the lives of many patients if diagnosed early. If the pneumonic form is left untreated, however, the fatality rate is 100%, and the bubonic form has a 30-60% death rate on a case by case basis.
Working with the Institut Pasteur, DNASU is using a $13 million grant to understand if a vaccination can be made available to reduce the biological threat that yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the bubonic plague, poses to the island country of Madagascar.
Madagascar has naturally occurring yersinia pestis infections which is why DNASU collects samples from this location. With these samples, the repository is attempting to identify the most prominent proteins from the immune response of patients in order to find life-saving antibodies.
With roughly 4,000 genes in its genome, DNASU is making copies of every single gene in yersinia pestis to identify the most reactive proteins that trigger an immune response. Once found, vaccinating people with those proteins will help protect them against infection.
Additionally, DNASU is working to develop better diagnostic testing for yersinia pestis to understand if a vaccine would be an effective treatment.
"It's just like a pregnancy test or a COVID-19 test kit trying to identify antibodies, " Mitch Magee, researcher at the Biodesign Institute for DNASU said. "With just a couple drops of patient blood, you can tell if antibodies are reacting to that protein. In places like Madagascar, they need a test (for yersinia pestis)."
A kit of this kind can be utilized in a doctor's office or a small village without electricity because it does not require refrigeration. Its accessibility is vital for lowering the infection rate in Madagascar.
Magee notes he is very interested in having a better understanding of how the immune system sees this invasive complex bacterium that has impacted so many lives through the course of history.
References
DeWitte, S. N. (2014, May 7). Mortality risk and survival in the aftermath of the medieval Black death. PloS one. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013036/
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