The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemic that hit Europe in history. The Black Death first emerged in the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 (Gottfried,1). The plague came from several Italian merchant ships which were returning to Messina. Several sailors on board were dying of an unknown disease and a few days after arriving in Messina, several residents within and outside of Messina were dying as well (Poland 1). The Black Death was as deadly as it was because it was not limited by gender, age, or species. The Black Death was also very deadly because it could attack in three different forms: the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague. Even though the bubonic plague can not be transmitted among humans, it was the most common of the three plagues. The bubonic plague occurs when fleas feed on the blood of infected rodents, which are usually rats (Poland 1). The bacterium that causes the infection is known as Yersenia Pestis. The fleas then pass the bacteria when they bite a human or when materials infected with Yersenia pestis directly enters the body through a wound. The names of this plague come from the swellings, also known as buboes, that appeared on a victim’s neck, armpits, or groin (Gottfried,1).The lymph nodes suddenly become painful and swollen with pus especially in the groin. Later, the skin splits and oozes pus and blood. Blood also comes out of the victim’s urine which, like the rest of the symptoms, smells horribly. These swellings (also known as tumors) could be as small as an egg or as big as an apple. Even though some people survived this disease, others would have a life expectancy of a week. The septicemic plague was transmitted in the same way as the bubonic plague. The septicemic plague was transmitted with direct contact with a flea bite. The only three hosts in which the disease could live in were in humans, rats, and fleas (Inspecta 1). Inside the rat flea, the bacteria Yersenia pestis multiply inside the flea which in turn, blocks the flea’s stomach causing it to be very hungry. As a result, the flea starts biting the host vigorously which in turn would spread the plague to the host. Since the bacterium is still blocking the flea’s stomach, the flea would still be hungry and therefore it would continue to bite other humans until it starves to death.
1. The contrast between Cottard and the other characters is that while everyone else is in constant fear of catching the plague and doing everything they can to fight the disease, Cottard is cheerful in the fact that the plague has put a stop to the police investigating his mysterious crime . Cottard probably also enjoys the camaraderie of everyone else finally being in the same position as he is.
If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality ( Merriam-Webster ). A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic affects of the plague in Europe were detrimental to the population and economy.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form of the Black Death. Which had a mortality rate of 30-70%. The symptoms were enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes (around armpits, neck and groin). The term "bubonic" refers to the characteristic bubo or enlarged lymphatic gland. Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear.
First, the reason this disease spread was because rats and fleas carried this disease.The flea would bite an infected rat and suck their blood. Unfortunately, the bacterium that caused the plague produced a toxin making the flea unable to digest the blood. So, when they went to find a human host to bite, they
The bubonic plague is caused by an infection of the lymphatic system. It is very rare that the disease would be spread from human to human. When it does spread from human contact, it's a slightly different version of the virus. When the rat dies, the flea seeks a new host to infect. The bacteria lives inside the digestive system of the animal until it also passes away from the black plague. The symptoms for the rats were roughly the same as for humans. The plague means nothing but death for anyone.
The plague was spread by fleas, which were not effected by the disease. Fleas first infected the rats, which lived off garbage and sewage. The rats then spread the infection to the humans. Rats were a common sight in the cities, due to the poor sanitary conditions, so no one suspected them (www.tartans.com). In the winter the plague seemed to disappear, but only because fleas were dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims (www.byu.edu). The effects of the plague were devastating. After just five years, twenty-five million people were dead - one third of Europe's population. Once people were infected they infected others very rapidly. As a result, in order to avoid the disease, many fled to the countryside where the lower population density helped to decrease the speed at which the disease spread (www.tartans.com). From a person's time of infection to his or her death was less than one week (www.home.nycap.rr.com). The plague became known as "The Black Death" because of the discoloration of the skin and black enlarged lymph nodes that appeared on the second day of contracting the disease. The term "The Black Death" was not invented until after 1800. Contemporaries called it "the pestilence" (Cantor 7).
Bubonic plague started to spread by fleas infected with Yersinia pestis. Fleas find a victim and try to feed by injecting its sucking mechanism, but the Yersinia pestis block the flea's esophagus and pharynx, preventing the flea from obtaining any blood. This causes the flea to continuously puncture its food source, in turn regurgitating into the wound and injecting it with the plague bacilli (“Hosts”). This caused the infections to spread to rats and rodents, flea’s main host.
Imagine living in a time filled with nothing but fear. The thing you fear cannot be touched or seen but will put you to a slow miserable death. In the 1300s people were struck with a great plague, which has now been named “The Black Death”. The Black Death killed off populations with just one sweep. Historians call this the biggest tragedy of all time. The question is what caused this plague and how does something like this happen? Overtime historians have boiled it down to 2 and some may say 3 explanations, which are religion, science, and humans. With the help of a book The Black Death by Rosemary Horrox I was able to find explanations of them all. Who may know which is the correct reason for such a thing but what your think caused it is for you to decide.
“I think a rat just climbed up my leg, Dad. And I’ve got fleas, too.” “John, there’s all this Black Death and all you care about is a few fleas and a rat.
The Bubonic plague usually is caused from the bite of an infected flea. The bacteria gets more in the lymph node closest to where the bacteria entered the human body. If the patient is not treated with the right antibiotics, the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body. There has been more cases of the Bubonic Plague then any of the other three.
In the years of 1348-1349 (or 1347-1351 if Eastern Europe were to be included), a plague known as The Black Death, the Bubonic Plague, or The Plague was spreading across Europe like wildfire. “The Black Death is the bubonic plague, and it is caused by bad bacteria (Y. Pestis) which lives in the stomachs of fleas that live on rats”, according to “Black Death”. Normally this bacteria would stay in the fleas stomach, but during 1348-1349, they were murderous blood suckers. “the bad bacteria can multiply to the point that the flea gets sick, and when it bites a rat, it vomits the bad bacteria into the rat. Now the rat has the bubonic plague. And because the bad bacteria gets in its blood, every flea that bites the rat will suck the bad bacteria
Today humans must have heard about the Black Death that struck Europe, and Asia back in Medieval times ( P. Friedlander). The Black Death was also known as the Bubonic Plague. This plague originated in Mongolia but the nomads spread it throughout parts of Europe and Asia. Rats traveled with them causing plague to spread to trading colonies (36). Bubonic plague arrived in Italy in 1347 causing many people to get sick (34). The symptom of the disease was swelling in the lymph glands in the groin, neck, and also armpits. Doctors treating the disease believed it was caused by body fluids being out of balance.
It was a bubonic plague that came from Asia and spread by black rats infested with fleas. The plague spread like a wildfire because people who lived in high populated areas were living very close to each other and had no idea what was the cause of the disease or how to cure it. The signs of the “inevitable death” where blood from the nose, fever, aching and swellings big as an “apple” in the groin or under the armpits. From there the disease spread through the body in different directions and soon after it changed into black spots that appeared on the arms and thighs. Due to the lack of medical knowledge, no doctors manage to find a remedy. Furthermore a large number of people without any kind of medical experience tried to help the sick but most of them failed “...there was now a multitude both of men and of women who practiced without having received the slightest tincture of medical science - and, being in ignorance of its source, failed to apply the proper remedies…” (Boccaccio). The plague was so deadly that it was enough for a person to get infected by only touching the close of the
The septimic plague is transmitted through direct fleabite. With there being no incubation period the infection infects the bloodstream directly and immediately. In reaction the victim’s circulatory system collapses, they have a high internal bleeding rate, and are dead within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.