Impact of plague on human history

Plague was first described among the Philistines in the Book of Samuel in 1320 BC and was thought to be related to rodents. The Justinian plague of 42-590 AD was definitely caused by Yersinia pestis and was the first plague pandemic. The second pandemic, from the early 1300s to the late 1600s, was known as the Black Death in Europe. In the modern era, the third pandemic began in 1894 in China and spread by ships to port cities. Plague epidemics continue to occur in endemic areas. Plague was used in biological warfare in World War II with limited success. This article reviews plague pandemics and the use of plague as a biological weapon from an historical perspective.