Monday, January 15, 2018

plagued by the plague

Open Archive Day

A recent press release reminded me that the plague is still a problem in Madagascar - something I wasn't really aware of until I wrote a feature on Yersinia pestis a couple of years ago.

The feature is now in the open archives, so anybody with a strong stomach who wants to know all about the plague's past present and future can read it here:

A plague on mankind


Yersinia pestis
image source

PS there is a famous German sea shanty all about being quarantined on a ship with the plague off the coast of Madagascar, but it doesn't appear to exist in any other language. Plus, Wiki suggests that in the historical event that inspired the song, the disease wasn't the plague after all: Wir lagen vor Madagaskar


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