Disabling Key Protein May Give Physicians Time To Treat Pneumonic Plague

Yersinia was the cause of the Black Death in the Middle Ages in Europe. This bacterium is a versatile pathogen that can modify itself to infect the lungs (pneumonic plague), the lymph glands (bubonic plague), or the bloodstream and organs. It is spread through droplets of moisture expelled by coughing and sneezing; killing in three to four days, this pneumonic plague could potentially be used in terrorist attacks. Recently researchers from the Midwest Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research have developed a mouse model of the plague and discovered that the aggressive pneumonia and rapid death of pneumonic plague is dependent on the activity of PLA; a protein that spreads the disease throughout the body.
With this information we once again have the means to treat a potentially devastating disease!It truly is amazing that such a tiny thing as a protein can be means of spreading such a terrible disease.