Black Death of the Middle Ages

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There were many symptoms that came with one getting the plague and very little medication to treat it. “The disease was present in two forms: one that infected the bloodstream, causing the buboes and internal bleeding, and was spread by contact; and a second, more virulent pneumonic type that infected the lungs and was spread by respiratory infection” (Tuchman). The first thing to strike after determining that you were ill was most commonly a headache, occasional chills, and a high fever. In most cases, it was clear that exhaustion was a playing a toll on people who were ill with the disease. Most often things like nausea, vomiting, back pain, soreness in your arms and legs all took place. Within a day or two after nausea and other symptoms, the swellings appeared (Snell). The swellings were hard and painful, in which also you had burning lumps on your neck, under your arms and on your inner thighs (Snell). Shortly after the lumps appeared on your skin, they started turning black, splitting open and beginning to release pus and blood. The most crucial and life threatening problem came in pretty close to immediately after the lumps started to bleed, which was: internal bleeding, causing bleeding through urine and other server problems as well. It was possible to recover from the plague, but more than likely death would come quickly (Snell) During these tough times both hardship and misfortune where faced in the medieval ages. Daily life was occasionally exceedingly hard to fathom. Medicine was immensely limited, but some methods were tested in hopes of finding a secure lead to restoring health. That fact that there were no antibiotics during the middle ages is what turned the hard times into the absolute most difficult times. ... ... middle of paper ... ...18 Nov. 2013. Alchin, Linda. "Middle Ages Hygiene." Middle Ages Hygiene. 16 July 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Alchin, Linda. "Medicine in the Middle Ages." Medicine in the Middle Ages. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. Betcher, G. "Town Life." Town Life. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. “Black Death.” 2014. The History Channel website. Jan 16 2014, 3:51 http://www.history.com/topics/black-death. K., Alchin L. "Black Death." Black Death. 16 July 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. Knox, Skip E.L. "The Middle Ages." The Black Death. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Martin, Phillip. "Middle Ages for Kids - The Plague!" Middle Ages for Kids - The Plague! Web. 08 Dec. 2013. "Plague." National Geographic. National Geographic, 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Snell, Melissa. "Death Defined." About.com Medieval History. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Tuchman, Barbara. "Description of the Black Death." Description of the Black Death. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

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