Mollaret H H
Institut Pasteur, Unité d'Ecologie Bactérienne, Paris, France.
Contrib Microbiol Immunol. 1987;9:1-13.
The first recorded experience Australia had of the genus Yersinia was the arrival in 1889 of a French expedition led by Pasteur's nephew, Dr. Adrien Loir. At that time Australia was in the grips of an epidemic of rabbits, and Loir's purpose was to eradicate the rabbits by means of fowl plague (Pasteurella multocida). Sadly, bureaucratic and political obstacles prevailed, and Loir was never granted permission to release his biological control agent. Alexander Yersin had been tempted to join Loir's expedition, but elected in the end to travel to Hong Kong, where he discovered the plague bacillus. Had he gone to Australia, we might not now be speaking of the genus Yersinia... Historically, Yersinia pestis has affected not only world history but literature as well. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the tragic denouement can be attributed directly to the consequences of the Great Plague. In times of plague, cities closed their gates to travellers, and houses their doors and windows. Thus Laurence's explanatory letter was prevented from reaching Romeo, who returned to take his life beside the drugged (but living) body of his beloved. Not only was the contemporary literature from which Shakespeare drew inspiration full of references to the plague, but he himself had experienced the social effects of the plague at first hand. The recent rejection of the name Y. pseudotuberculosis var. pestis in favour of Y. pestis is fitting, not simply on the grounds of preventing confusion - after all, Y. pseudotuberculosis can be an equally lethal pathogen. However, a review of the epidemiology for Y. pestis since the First Pandemic in the 6th Century AD lends support to Devignat's hypothesis that Y. pseudotuberculosis evolved from Y. pestis, rather than vice versa. This probably occurred in Europe shortly before the Second Pandemic, and the new mutant spread slowly through the European rodent population, immunising the carriers against plague. In other parts of the world which continued to be affected by plague, the rodent populations remained susceptible because they had not been immunised by exposure to Y. pseudotuberculosis. In some areas which have not been affected by plague, it is also possible that the native rodent populations have been immunised by Y. enterocolitica and its relatives. The plague, the first biological weapon, has killed more people than man's wars. It is our duty, as bacteriologists handling this pathogen, to refuse to allow our work to be used in modern warfare, to refuse to participate in any further warfare against humanity itself.
澳大利亚首次有记录的耶尔森氏菌属经历，是1889年由巴斯德的侄子阿德里安·卢瓦尔博士率领的法国探险队的到来。当时澳大利亚正遭受兔灾，卢瓦尔的目的是用禽霍乱（多杀性巴氏杆菌）来消灭兔子。遗憾的是，官僚主义和政治障碍占了上风，卢瓦尔从未获得释放其生物控制剂的许可。亚历山大·耶尔辛曾被诱惑加入卢瓦尔的探险队，但最终选择前往香港，在那里他发现了鼠疫杆菌。要是他去了澳大利亚，我们现在可能就不会谈论耶尔森氏菌属了……从历史上看，鼠疫耶尔森菌不仅影响了世界历史，也影响了文学。在莎士比亚的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中，悲剧结局可直接归因于大瘟疫的后果。在瘟疫时期，城市对旅行者关闭城门，房屋紧闭门窗。因此，劳伦斯的解释信未能送达罗密欧手中，罗密欧回来后在他心爱的人服了药（但还活着）的尸体旁结束了自己的生命。不仅莎士比亚汲取灵感的当代文学中充满了对瘟疫的提及，而且他本人也亲身经历了瘟疫的社会影响。最近用鼠疫耶尔森菌取代伪结核耶尔森菌鼠疫变种这个名称是恰当的，这不仅仅是为了避免混淆——毕竟，伪结核耶尔森菌也可能是同样致命的病原体。然而，回顾公元6世纪第一次大流行以来鼠疫耶尔森菌属的流行病学情况，支持了德维尼亚特的假说，即伪结核耶尔森菌是由鼠疫耶尔森菌进化而来，而非相反。这可能发生在第二次大流行前不久的欧洲，新的突变体在欧洲啮齿动物种群中缓慢传播，使携带者对鼠疫产生免疫。在世界上其他继续受鼠疫影响的地区，啮齿动物种群仍然易感，因为它们没有因接触伪结核耶尔森菌而获得免疫。在一些未受鼠疫影响的地区，当地的啮齿动物种群也有可能因小肠结肠炎耶尔森菌及其亲缘菌而获得了免疫。鼠疫，作为第一种生物武器，造成的死亡人数超过了人类战争。作为处理这种病原体的细菌学家，我们有责任拒绝让我们的工作被用于现代战争，拒绝参与任何进一步的反人类战争。
