Nerdy Science Blog

One of the deadliest pandemics in human history is the Black Death a.k.a. Black Plague, which is highly suspected to be caused by Yersinia pestis bacterium.  Although Influenza has been thought to be the next pandemic, scientists found that the next pandemic could be caused by rats.

A paper will be published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggesting the biggest and most common rats in Europe, the brown rats, may carry bacteria that cause the 21st century plague.

Bartonella bacteria are zoonotic pathogens that can cause serious illness in humans worldwide, such as heart disease, and spleen and nervous system infection.  The new species of Bartonella bacteria, Bartonella rochalimae, was discovered and identified to cause spleen infection led the scientists to study this bacteria species in rodents.  It is discovered that rats carry several pathogenic species of Bartonella, for example B. elizabethae and B. grahamii, and B. tribocorum.  A new strain which is closely related to B. rochalimae was found in rats.  The infections can be transmitted by fleas.

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