Question: what have you found about what caused the black death?

Zoe Duck answered on 17 Jun 2010:

The evidence suggests that the black death was caused by a bacterium called Yesinia pestis, that is carried in fleas that live on rats and spread to humans. There is pretty solid evidence for this and we know it can now be cured by antibiotics.
When the bacteria infect humans, they can detect an increase in temperature, as humans are warmer than fleas and they produce masses of a protein known as F1 antigen that coats the cell and protects the bacteria from the immune system. This much was known before I started work on the black death.

My work is more focused on how we can treat the black death if it were to come back (there are a few cases every year in the US, Africa and South east Asia). I am looking at how the F1 antigen is able to get to the surface of the bacterium, once we know this we will be able to look at ways to stop it forming. Another person in my lab is trying to develop a safe vaccine that could be used. Both of these projects are in their very early stages but are looking promising!