WEIRD SCIENCE

The Black Death is still a killer

IT MAY seem like a disease from the Dark Ages, but about 3,000 people a year catch bubonic plague.

The infection, a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, is usually found in mammals and their fleas, and was known as the Black Death.

In 1348, bubonic plague triggered the deadliest global pandemic in human history, which killed between 40 and 60 per cent of the British population.

While outbreaks of this size no longer occur, it still circulates, mainly in Africa. Symptoms include fever, headaches, chills and swollen lymph nodes.

It can, however, now be treated with antibiotics.