Methods Used to Combat the Plague

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Recommended: Briefing summary on the black death

During the Middle Ages, the threat of disease and sickness was a constant threat throughout Europe and Asia. The year of 1348, marked the beginning of what most call the Black Death. This time of tremendous hardship and suffering continued until the start of the Renaissance in the late 14th century. Although the plague brought about tribulation and death, the aftermath of the epidemic introduced reform and new ideas to Europe. With the Renaissance on the horizon, medical sector was on the brick of revolutionary concepts and beliefs, while the social hierarchy was about to experience a major change.

Emerging in China and inner Asia first, the plague spread rapidly through Asia and eventually to the most western parts of Europe. The Black Death is believed to have originated from an “infection with the bacterium Yersinisa pestis” (“Black Death” 1) which is a disease of rats. This disease was often carried by the common black rat called Rattus rattus and transmitted to humans through a bite of a flea that fed on an infected rat. The pandemic of the Black Death swept across Europe “when a Kipchak army, besieging a Genoese trading post in the Crimea, catapulted plague-infested corpses into the town” (“Black Death” 2). From there, the trading ships spread the disease among the Mediterranean ports, and the Black Death began.

With the Black Death spreading with unbelievable speed, people did everything possible to contain the disease and prevent further infection. The method most commonly used to combat the plague “was to isolate those suspected or known to have contacted the disease” (“Public Health in the Middle Ages” 6) days for 14 to 40 days Many towns and cities implemented a practice of isolation by restricting admittance of pe...

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... sparked the beginning of a time period filled with the flowering of art, music, literature, and intellect. It triggered thoughts and ideas that set the basis for medicine to grow and develop into what it is today. It provoked considerable change in the social stratification. Even though there were negative consequences associated with the Black Death, the positive outcomes have had a lasting effect on society as a whole.

Works Cited

"Black Death." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 26 Feb.

2014.

"Public Health in the Middle Ages." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh

Lauer. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Student Resources in Context. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

"The Black Death. " Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 2.

Detroit: Gale, 2001. Student Resources in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

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