What does yersinia pestis look like?

Answer 1

Yersinia Pestis is the germ that infected many during the Bubonic Plague. it was once called pasteurella pestis named in the honor of the pasteur institute, but was later renamed yersinia pestis after Alexandre yersin. Yersinia pestis was carried by flea and rodents and was tranfered to humans. this germ caused many deaths and caused one of the most severe epedemics in the world in history. Yersinia pestis (formerly Pasteurella pestis) is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe that can infect humans and other animals. Human Y. pestis infection takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and the notorious bubonic plagues. All three forms have been responsible for high mortality rates in epidemics throughout human history, including the Black Death (a bubonic plague) that accounted for the death of at least one-third of the European population in 1347 to 1353. Recently Y. pestis has gained attention as a possible biological warfare agent and the CDC has classified it as category a pathogen requiring preparation for a possible terrorist attack. Yersinia pestis bacteria -- the organism responsible for plague -- can grow with or without oxygen. Animals that are known to carry the bacteria include rats, prairie dogs, and fleas. During an outbreak, the bacteria can survive for months in cool, moist conditions, such as a rodent hole. Approximately 10 to 20 people in the United States develop an infection each year from flea or rodent bites.

Answer 2

It looks like....

a rod shaped bacterium. Yersinia pestis is the bacteria from a xenopsylla cheopis (rat flea) stomach that causes the plague>