Plague Essay

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The Plague was a disease that killed many people in medieval times, it was estimated to kill 75 - 200 million people and 45 - 50% of the European people at the time and approximately a third of the middle eastern population (educated guesses). The Plague was a bacterium called ‘Yersinia Pestis’ or originally ‘Pasteurella Pestis’, this Facultative anaerobic bacterium takes three known forms known as Bubonic, Pneumonic and septicaemic which were all commonly known forms of the plague between 1347 - 1353.
( Yersinia pestis in flea )

What Caused The Plague?
The Plague was caused by ‘Yersinia Pestis’ the bacterium, and ‘Xenopsylla Cheopis’ or the tropical flea, it was believed to extract the infected blood with the enterobacteria (Yersinia Pestis). All types of the plague (Bubonic, Pneumonic and Septicaemic) were a vector borne sickness which means that it needs a healthy and living host to carry the pathogen, The rat could easily handle the plague gaining a carrier status. In this case the tropical flea would take the infected blood from the rodent (generally a rat) and spat blood back into the open wound and continued to do the same carrying some of the blood on their mouths and when making contact with a human they spat the infected blood in to person as the bacteria attacks the inflammatory response and using protein to shield themselves from the immune system making symptoms harder to notice.

What Did Medieval People Believe About The Causes And Transmissions Of The Plague?
Many medieval people thought that the plague was brought upon them as a punishment for all sins committed during the medieval ages or during the religious era. The Plague first showed signs in Sicily in 1347 and were transported by Genoese Galleys as mo...

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.... [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_rat_flea [Accessed 6 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Pneumonic plague. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague [Accessed 4 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Septicemic plague. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septicemic_plague [Accessed 7 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). The Plague. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague [Accessed 11 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Theories of the Black Death. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_the_Black_Death [Accessed 15 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Yersinia pestis. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersinia_pestis [Accessed 8 May. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Feodosia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feodosia [Accessed 15 May. 2014].

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