20-million-year old flea carrying bubonic plague may be real reason dinosaurs went extinct

'Plague may have played a larger role in the past than we imagined'

Preserved in amber, a 20-million-year-old flea is believed to contain an ancient form of one of the world's deadliest bacteria: Black Death. 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Catholic Online) - According to the Journal of Medical Entomology, the fossilized bacteria is highly likely to be an ancestor of Yersinia pestis, also known as the bubonic plague.

Researchers found that the characteristics of the preserved bacteria is almost consistent with that which caused the plague as well as the bacteria's modern form.

Author George Poinar, Jr., an entomology researcher in the College of Science at Oregon State University said, "Aside from physical characteristics of the fossil bacteria that are similar to plague bacteria.

He explained that the droplets of the bacteria were found in the sucking mouthpart, called the proboscis, and in the rectum of the flea. 

He studied the bacteria under high magnification and found that all of its features - the size, shape and characteristics - are consistent with the modern bubonic plague bacteria. The 20-million-year-old flea's bacteria have the same shapes -rod and spherical- that can only be found on the killer Yersinia pestis. 

"And in this fossil, the presence of similar bacteria in a dried droplet on the proboscis of the flea is consistent with the method of transmission of plague bacteria by modern fleas," added Poinar Jr. 
Now, scientists are rethinking their earlier suppositions that fleas were disease vectors. The evidence shows it is possible the bacteria could have evolved millions of years ago. 

The new theory speculates dinosaurs may not have been killed-off following a large meteor strike; it could have been a disease -which could have been much more deadly and could have played a prominent role in their extinction.

"If this is an ancient strain of Yersinia, it would be extraordinary. It would show that plague is actually an ancient disease that no doubt was infecting and possibly causing some extinction of animals long before any humans existed. Plague may have played a larger role in the past than we imagined," said Poinar, Jr.

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