Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32979306›Full record

ReviewThe American journal of medicine2021

History of the Plague: An Ancient Pandemic for the Age of COVID-19.

Kathryn A Glatter, Paul Finkelman

Open access · bronzeAbstract readHistorical ArticleReview
In one paragraph

Review in The American journal of medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
14.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Digital imaging, technologies and artificial intelligence applications during COVID-19 pandemic.Computerized medical imaging and graphics : the official journal of the Computerized Medical Imaging Society · 2021
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  17. Multiplex PCR System for the Diagnosis of Plague.Current molecular medicine · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kathryn A GlatterGratz College, Melrose Park, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: kglatter@student.gratz.edu.
Paul FinkelmanGratz College, Melrose Park, Pennsylvania.
Gratz College · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

During the fourteenth century, the bubonic plague or Black Death killed more than one third of Europe or 25 million people. Those afflicted died quickly and horribly from an unseen menace, spiking high fevers with suppurative buboes (swellings). Its causative agent is Yersinia pestis, creating recurrent plague cycles from the Bronze Age into modern-day California and Mongolia. Plague remains endemic in Madagascar, Congo, and Peru. This history of medicine review highlights plague events across the centuries. Transmission is by fleas carried on rats, although new theories include via human body lice and infected grain. We discuss symptomatology and treatment options. Pneumonic plague can be weaponized for bioterrorism, highlighting the importance of understanding its clinical syndromes. Carriers of recessive familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) mutations have natural immunity against Y. pestis. During the Black Death, Jews were blamed for the bubonic plague, perhaps because Jews carried FMF mutations and died at lower plague rates than Christians. Blaming minorities for epidemics echoes across history into our current coronavirus pandemic and provides insightful lessons for managing and improving its outcomes.

Indexed as

COVID-19History, MedievalHumansPandemicsPlagueBioterrorismBlack DeathBubonic plagueCOVID-19Evolutionary adaptationFamilial Mediterranean fever (FMF)Pneumonic plaguePyrinYersinia pestis

Identifiers

PMID32979306
PMCPMC7513766
OpenAlexW3088236829

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.