Black Death
Also known as the Great Plague, the
Black Plague, or simply the Plague.
Who gets the disease?
Nobody was safe from the plague, old and young, men and women: all of society
– royalty, peasants, archbishops, monks, nuns and parish clergy. Both artisan and
artistic skills were lost or severely affected, from cathedral building in Italy to
pottery production in England. There were shortages of people to till the land and
tend cattle and sheep.
What is this disease?
Black Death: The Medieval black plague that ravaged Europe and killed a third of
its population. Once a person is infected with bubonic plague, symptoms can
begin to show in as little as a few hours or after as long as 12 days. As the
bacteria causes infection in your lymph nodes, you may suddenly develop a high
fever, between 103 and 106 degrees, which is usually accompanied by chills, as
well as bad breath, coughing, vomiting of blood and foul body odor.
Where does this disease exist?
The plague is most commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar,
areas which account for more than 95 percent of reported cases, according to the
CDC. Madagascar often sees the highest numbers of bubonic or black plague
cases worldwide, about 600 infections annually.
When was the last Black Death outbreak?
Around 1400, the fact that plague is transmitted by rat fleas means plague is a
disease of the warmer seasons, disappearing during the winter, or at least lose
most of their powers of spread.
Name of Bacteria
It was caused by a bacterium known as (Yersinia pestis)
How could you get this disease? Tests A healthcare
provider would run? Cures or Treatments?
Usually, you would have gotten the Black Death from the bite of an infected flea or
rodent. In rare cases, you could get the Y. pestis bacteria, from a piece of
contaminated clothing or other material used by a person with plague, enter the
body through an opening in the skin. Requires urgent hospital treatment with
strong antibiotics.
Background History on the disease.
This was a widespread epidemic of the Black Death that passed from Asia and
through Europe in the mid fourteenth century. The first signs of the Black Plague
in Europe were present around the fall of 1347. In the span of three years, the
Black Death killed one third of all the people in Europe.
One interesting fact I found on the disease
This disease was actually called the Black Death because one of the tell tale
signs of the Black Death were dark patches on the skin of many of the plagues
victims caused by subcutaneous bleeding.
