Latest news with #BlackDeath
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
I tasted the 'world's SOUREST sweet' dubbed Black Death - so acidic it's not suitable for anyone under 12
If you love extreme food challenges, there's a fearsome new confection taking social media by storm. The 'Black Death' sweets are ultra-sour jet black balls created by English confectionery company Mr Simms. Mr Simms describes Black Death as 'the world's sourest sweet', beating the likes of Sour Patch Kids, Toxic Waste and Warheads Sour Cubes. On its website, the little lemon-flavoured boiled spheres are available at £4.50 for 200g, £10.99 for 500g and £21.79 for 1kg. And due to their alleged potency, they're not recommended for anyone under the age of 12. Social media influencer @underratedhijabi has already tried the confectionary, describing it as like 'a metal road at the back of my throat'. In a viral video, she theatrically bursts into a series of convulsions seconds after popping it into her mouth and has to quickly spit it out. Not to be deterred, MailOnline's Assistant Science Editor, Jonathan Chadwick, got hold of a packet – although just one of the balls was more than enough. I love super-sour candy, having grown up guzzling the likes of Jelly Belly Sours, Dweebs, Haribo Tangfastics and Swizzels Refreshers. But I'm a bit nervous about the Black Death, which has already put a 10-year-old girl in hospital after it burnt her throat. Black Death are exclusively available at Mr Simms – the 'Olde Sweet Shoppe' known for its retro-looking wood-panelled physical stores across England. When I get my sample, I notice on the packet it says Black Death sweets are 'not suitable for children under 12 years of age'. 'CAUTION: Excessive consumption within a brief time frame may cause temporary mouth and/or stomach irritation,' it adds. I'm instantly reminded of 77X42, the small lemon sweet from an episode of 'The Simpsons' that is so sour it can only be contained in a magnetic field. Among Black Death's ingredients are sugar, glucose syrup and malic acid – the compound responsible for the tart flavour in fruits and vegetables, such as rhubarb. There's also citric acid, which is generally recognised as safe as a food additive – but is also used as a de-scaler in household cleaning products. The packaging says: 'Warning: Not suitable for children under 12 years of age'. Its aroma is described as 'of sugar, acid and lemon' I'm reminded of 77X42, the small lemon sweet from an episode of 'The Simpsons' that is so sour it can only be contained in a magnetic field Also included is black iron oxide, which sounds pretty ominous but is an approved, commonly-used colourant used in the food industry. It gives the sweets a jet black appearance, like little charcoal lumps (if it weren't for the heavy dusting of chunky acid crystals over them). Unlike the hysterical social media influencer, I'm forbidden from spitting out Black Death once I put it in my mouth (it is a taste test after all!) For the first two seconds, it doesn't really seem that sour at all, but the zingy effect very suddenly registers. The only thing I can compare it to is taking a big bite out of a pink grapefruit, peel and all – not really that pleasant. I get all the physiological symptoms, including wincing and puckered mouth – although not quite to the extent of Homer Simpson. It's easily the sourest sweet I've ever had, but I don't quite get the urge to spit it out. Somehow this goes against the human body's innate rejection response for sour things, which are detected by special receptor cells in taste buds. Thankfully, the ferociously sour taste doesn't last for the entire time that you're sucking the little black ball. After about 20-30 seconds, just as you think you can't take any more, it suddenly shifts from ultra-sour to fruity sweet. It seems that the crusty white exterior crystals are what gives the sweet its astringency – but once you've sucked through them the endurance test is basically over. Finally, once you get to the centre, you get an extra little burst of sourness – although nothing compared with the initial hit. To be honest, having seen the histrionics of @underratedhijabi, I'm a tad disappointed that Black Death sweets aren't a lot more potent. I guess the next step up from Black Death is confectionary containing inedible acids that are so toxic they could seriously harm someone. So unless we enter the fictional realm of Willy Wonka or The Simpsons, Black Death is probably as acidic as we're going to get. However, I wouldn't recommend eating several of these in one go, or leaving them lying around for any unsuspecting child to encounter. According to scientists, excess exposure to acid can burn through the tender skin on the tongue and cheeks – so approach with caution. Sourness is related to the acidity of food, which is often caused by bacterial fermentation and typically evokes a rejection response. Edible acids that are naturally found in fruits and vegetables include malic acid, citric acid and tartaric acid. There's also acetic acid (found in vinegar), oxalic acid (found in tea, cocoa and pepper) and benzoic acid (found in cranberries, prunes and plums. Meanwhile, inedible acids (those that are harmful or unsafe to consume) include hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and nitric acid. The sourness of substances is rated relative to dilute hydrochloric acid, which has a sourness index of 1 and is extremely toxic and corrosive. By comparison, tartaric acid has a sourness index of 0.7, citric acid an index of 0.46, and carbonic acid an index of 0.06.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Plague became less deadly to last longer, study finds
Paris: The bacteria that cause the plague evolved to become less deadly over time, allowing it to continue infecting people in three separate pandemics over more than a thousand years, new research said Thursday. The first pandemic -- the plague of Justinian -- struck in the 500s at the start of the Middle Ages and lasted for around 200 years. The Black Death began in the mid-1300s and would become the deadliest pandemic in human history, killing up to half of the people in Europe, western Asia and Africa, with outbreaks continuing for centuries. The third bubonic plague pandemic broke out in China in the 1850s and continues today, with some cases still being recorded in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. "The plague bacteria have a particular importance in the history of humanity, so it's important to know how these outbreaks spread," said Javier Pizarro-Cerda, a microbiologist at France's Pasteur Institute and co-author of the study published in the journal Science on Thursday. The researchers examined samples of Yersinia pestis , the bacteria that cause the plague, dating back to each pandemic. In all three cases, the genes of each plague bacteria evolved to become less virulent and less deadly over time, according to the study. By causing less severe infections, the bacteria are thought to have extended the length of the pandemics because it gained more opportunities to spread between people. The researchers confirmed this theory by infecting rats with recent plague samples, showing that the disease lasted longer when the virulence decreased. While antibiotics can now effectively fight off the plague, the research could shine a light on how other pandemics might evolve. "This allows us to gain a comprehensive understanding of how pathogens can adapt to different situations," Pizarro-Cerda said. "We finally better understand what the plague is -- and how we can develop measures to defend ourselves," he added.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Single gene may help explain the plague's persistence throughout human history
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have discovered how adaptations in a single gene helped the plague survive for hundreds of years. Responsible for the deadliest pandemic in history, the bacterium that causes the plague, Yersinia pestis, has existed in varying strains from ancient times until today. Now, scientists have unearthed a genetic clue as to how the infamous disease has persisted for millennia, with devastating outbreaks smoldering across centuries. They published their findings Thursday (May 29) in the journal Science. "This is one of the first research studies to directly examine changes in an ancient pathogen, one we still see today, in an attempt to understand what drives the virulence [disease severity], persistence and/or eventual extinction of pandemics," study co-senior author Hendrik Poinar, director of the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement. Y. pestis has been infecting humans since before recorded history began. The most common form of the disease is known as "bubonic" and most often enters the body through bites from infected fleas, although people can less commonly catch it directly from infected animals, including rats and cats. Once inside the body, the bacterium travels to the lymph nodes and replicates. As it multiplies, it triggers the formation of painful, pus-filled "buboes," for which the bubonic plague is named. The plague bacterium can also cause a blood infection, called septicemic plague, and lung infection called pneumonic plague. Related: Oregon's 1st bubonic plague case in 8 years tied to patient's pet cat The three major plague pandemics are among the deadliest outbreaks in human history. The first pandemic, the Justinian Plague (which occurred roughly between A.D. 542 and 750), slashed the population in parts of the Mediterranean to by an estimated 40% by the end of the sixth century. The second, and most infamous, outbreak of the disease was the 14th-century Black Death that ravaged Europe and the Middle East. The single deadliest pandemic in recorded history, the Black Death killed approximately 25 million people in Europe alone — between 33% and 50% of its population. A third, lesser-known global plague pandemic began in 1855 in China's Yunnan province and killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. This pandemic was considered active until 1960, after which plague deaths dropped to lower levels. Plague epidemics continue to this day, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Peru being the most endemic countries, according to the World Health Organization. Besides the staggering death counts associated with the pathogen, what's perhaps most remarkable about Y. pestis is the longevity of its strains. Strains of the Justinian Plague bacterium took 300 years to go extinct after outbreaks were first recorded, and one of the two lineages from the Black Death re-emerged in waves for 500 years before its disappearance, while the other became the ancestor of all present-day strains. To investigate the genetic toolkit Y. pestis uses to persist for so long, researchers conducted an analysis of a plague gene known as pla across hundreds of samples collected from ancient and modern victims of the disease. The pla gene codes for an enzyme that helps Y. pestis move through the body undetected by the host's immune system. Previous studies have suggested that pla is a key factor that modulates both the lethality of a given plague strain and its ability to spark outbreaks in humans. However, one plague strain can carry a different number of pla genes than the next, and it wasn't clear how this copy number might impact their biology, the researchers noted. To investigate, they collected multiple modern strains of Y. pestis from Vietnam that had varying numbers of copies of pla inside their genomes; carrying more copies of the gene means that the bacteria can crank out more copies of the enzyme. After injecting these different plague strains into mice, they found that the strains with fewer copies of pla led to longer infections but reduced the disease's mortality rate by up to 20%. RELATED STORIES —Diagnostic dilemma: A scientist caught plague from bacteria thought to be 'noninfectious' —Could bacteria or viruses lurking in ancient Egyptian mummies unleash a plague today? —'Black death' survivors had plague-resistant genes that may boost their descendants' risk of autoimmune disease Across the ancient plague genomes they analyzed — 20 of which dated to the first plague pandemic and 94 of which were from the second — the researchers noted a pattern where the plague strains lost copies of pla over time, namely in later stages of each pandemic. Among the modern genomes, they found three strains that hint that the same pattern is unfolding today. They theorized this adaptation likely made infections less virulent, or harmful to the host's body, over time. This suggests that the evolutionary change helped the disease to keep its hosts — be they rat or human — alive for longer, thereby enabling it to spread more widely. This adaptation may have been especially necessary after populations of the plague's primary hosts, rats, were killed off en masse during outbreaks. "The reduction of pla may reflect the changing size and density of rodent and human populations," Poinar said. "It's important to remember that plague was an epidemic of [flea-ridden] rats, which were the drivers of epidemics and pandemics. Humans were accidental victims." The scientists say that further research into both ancient and contemporary plague strains could reveal more pla depletions and help them to better understand how such changes to the germ's genome have shaped its virulence through history. Nowadays, Y. pestis infections can be cured with antibiotics, though some strains have shown troubling signs of antibiotic resistance. To head off the threat of a superbug plague outbreak, scientists in the U.K. have already started developing a bubonic plague vaccine to add to stockpiles. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Scientists SOLVE the mystery of the Black Death's prolonged reign of terror - as they pinpoint a single gene that allowed it to endure across centuries
The Black Death remains the single deadliest pandemic in recorded human history. The deveastating pandemic wiped out up to half of the populations of Europe, Western Asia and Africa, killing tens of millions of people. Now, the mystery of the Black Death's prolonged reign of terror has finally been solved. Research has revealed that the evolution of a single gene in Yersinia pestis - the bacterium that causes bubonic plague - allowed it to adapt and survive for so long. The study addresses key questions about how pandemics enter human populations, cause immense sickness, and evolve different levels of virulence. And in the future, the findings could help us to pre-empt another pandemic. 'This is one of the first research studies to directly examine changes in an ancient pathogen, one we still see today, in an attempt to understand what drives the virulence, persistence and/or eventual extinction of pandemics,' said co-senior author Professor Hendrik Poinar. The new study was conducted by researchers at McMaster University in Canada and France's Institut Pasteur. The bacteria that cause the plague evolved to become less deadly over time, allowing it to continue infecting people in three separate pandemics over more than a thousand years, their research revealed. The first pandemic - the plague of Justinian - struck in the 500s at the start of the Middle Ages and lasted for around 200 years. The Black Death began in the mid-1300s and would become the deadliest pandemic in human history, killing up to half of the people in Europe, western Asia and Africa, with outbreaks continuing for centuries. The third bubonic plague pandemic broke out in China in the 1850s and continues today, with some cases still being recorded in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. 'The plague bacteria have a particular importance in the history of humanity, so it's important to know how these outbreaks spread,' said Javier Pizarro-Cerda, co-author of the study. The researchers examined samples of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that cause the plague, dating back to each pandemic. In all three cases, the genes of each plague bacteria evolved to become less virulent and less deadly over time, according to the study. By causing less severe infections, the bacteria are thought to have extended the length of the pandemics because it gained more opportunities to spread between people. The researchers confirmed this theory by infecting rats with recent plague samples, showing that the disease lasted longer when the virulence decreased. While antibiotics can now effectively fight off the plague, the research could shine a light on how other pandemics might evolve. 'This allows us to gain a comprehensive understanding of how pathogens can adapt to different situations,' Pizarro-Cerda said. 'We finally better understand what the plague is - and how we can develop measures to defend ourselves,' he added. THE CAUSE BEHIND EUROPE'S BUBONIC PLAGUES The plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was the cause of some of the world's deadliest pandemics, including the Justinian Plague, the Black Death, and the major epidemics that swept through China in the late 1800s. The disease continues to affect populations around the world today. The Black Death of 1348 famously killed half of the people in London within 18 months, with bodies piled five-deep in mass graves. When the Great Plague of 1665 hit, a fifth of people in London died, with victims shut in their homes and a red cross painted on the door with the words 'Lord have mercy upon us'. The pandemic spread from Europe through the 14th and 19th centuries - thought to come from fleas which fed on infected rats before biting humans and passing the bacteria to them. But modern experts challenge the dominant view that rats caused the incurable disease. Experts point out that rats were not that common in northern Europe, which was hit equally hard by plague as the rest of Europe, and that the plague spread faster than humans might have been exposed to their fleas. Most people would have had their own fleas and lice, when the plague arrived in Europe in 1346, because they bathed much less often.
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Health
- GMA Network
Plague became less deadly to last longer, study finds
PARIS, France - The bacteria that cause the plague evolved to become less deadly over time, allowing it to continue infecting people in three separate pandemics over more than a thousand years, new research said Thursday. The first pandemic -- the plague of Justinian -- struck in the 500s at the start of the Middle Ages and lasted for around 200 years. The Black Death began in the mid-1300s and would become the deadliest pandemic in human history, killing up to half of the people in Europe, western Asia and Africa, with outbreaks continuing for centuries. The third bubonic plague pandemic broke out in China in the 1850s and continues today, with some cases still being recorded in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. "The plague bacteria have a particular importance in the history of humanity, so it's important to know how these outbreaks spread," said Javier Pizarro-Cerda, a microbiologist at France's Pasteur Institute and co-author of the study published in the journal Science on Thursday. The researchers examined samples of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that cause the plague, dating back to each pandemic. In all three cases, the genes of each plague bacteria evolved to become less virulent and less deadly over time, according to the study. By causing less severe infections, the bacteria are thought to have extended the length of the pandemics because it gained more opportunities to spread between people. The researchers confirmed this theory by infecting rats with recent plague samples, showing that the disease lasted longer when the virulence decreased. While antibiotics can now effectively fight off the plague, the research could shine a light on how other pandemics might evolve. "This allows us to gain a comprehensive understanding of how pathogens can adapt to different situations," Pizarro-Cerda said. "We finally better understand what the plague is -- and how we can develop measures to defend ourselves," he added. — Agence France-Presse
