Black Death's Genome Cracked

exceed writes: "This article on Wired, and this article on Yahoo! News states that scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium. This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes."

I can see it coming...

[Anonymous Coward]

Satan will sue these scientists under the DMCA for having cracked the protection of his copyrighted microscopic pupil. Will Congress learn to weigh all sides of an issue before passing random laws?

Black Death

[Digitalia]

Rest asssured, lowly peasants. Your fair and benevolent rulers have presented you with the ultimate cure for the vile scourge known as the black death. This, a lowly bar of soap, shall be your floral scented cure! Fear not any longer.

Bubonic Plague?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh come on...why do medical-science-type people have to muck about,
wasting their time with old,
uncommon illnesses like Bubonic Plague.

I'd bet the number of BP cases are probably 50000 worldwide every year. maybe less.

HSV2 -- why dont they decode _that_ genome and get cracking on something to help with that.

I'm getting tired of all these damn blisters! :)

So now we'll have new variants...

[TWX_the_Linux_Zealot]

...Like Blue Death, Green Death, White Death, Fuscia Death...

Infectious Disease Variants! Collect the WHOLE set!

All in the timing.

[Chairboy]

Great! This is excellent! This is something that could have been great about 400 YEARS AGO!

Grr!

What they REALLY need to decode is whatever virus it is that prompts record executives to pull together a group of 4-5 teenage boys and turn them into a 'boy band'. Cure THAT virus, and the world will thank you.

food chain

[Anonymous Coward]

cats make good dog food

dogs make good mexican food

mexicans make good chinese food

don't eat chinese food or chinese people and you should be safe.

no, wait, don't eat mexican food or mexican people and you should be safe.

ah shit i lost the thread, just eat chiles and drink beer and you should be safe.

except for that mexican/chinese sunburn.

Re:Wasteful

[A Tin of Fish Steaks]

Bubonic plague is still deadly, and can still be found in the unhygenic squalor of many a shanty-town in third and second world countries.

It can still be found in the unhygenic squalor of Colorado [cnn.com]. In fact, the strain analyzed by the researchers in this study came from the United States in 1992.

I'm afraid I can't attest from first hand knowledge whether or not Colorado Springs qualifies as a shanty-town.

Re:Let me get this straight...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, I'm the original "Let me get this straight..." troll, and while I appreciate your assistance in getting this message out to the masses (I _do_ have to sleep, after all -- and getting my IP banned for 72 hours isn't helping me get my message out either), but I have to tell you -- my troll is a _tad_ more subtle than your offshoot. You will notice your attempts, while entertaining, do not result in a massive outcry of threads resulting from morons who feel the need to tell us to "get over with it" and "get on with life".

Thank you for your support, however. Perhaps we should coordinate our posting times so we can get the most bang for our buck here, and avoid duplicating efforts. ;-)

A cure for the plague

[gimmie_prozac]

scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium. This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes." Great! Now I can finally get rid of that bird mask, holy relic, and incense burner I'd been keeping around in case the Black Death returned...

From the article:

[PD]

In their study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of Nature, the researchers mapped a strain of plague that killed a veterinarian in the United States in 1992. He contracted the disease after an infected cat sneezed on him.

Oh my god I would hate to die that way. Please just let me drown or get consumed by rats. Anything, but please don't let them print an obituary about me that admits that I was killed by a sneezing cat.

Re:Excellent!

[PieceMaker]

I've read a lot about the various fun ways it can kill you through history books.

Best to stay away from those history books then!

:)