THE BLACK DEATH AND THE FUTURE OF THE PLAGUE

The gravitas of Yersinia pestis, unique among pathogens, is based more on its history than on modern case numbers. When new outbreaks of plague are reported in the media, journalists are quick to link these incidents with the horrors of the medieval Black Death—and then to claim that there is no real threat to society, because we now have modern antibiotics. Walking a thin line between stirring up interest and not causing panic, reporters are only half right on both counts. On the one hand, modern plague cases are caused by the same lethal bacterium, Yersinia pestis; and yet