Bubonic Plague Research Paper

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, was a fatal disease that affected millions of people. Originated from China, the Bubonic Plague spread throughout Europe and made its way to Italy in 1347. (document 1) The Black Death, which covered the body with dark and livid spots, was difficult to treat. No one knew how to treat the disease nor how it began to spread.

The 1300s Bubonic Plague, also known as The Black Death was the greatest epidemic known to mankind. This Plague started in 1347 and proceeded up until 1351, executing an estimated amount of 25 million individuals. It was relatively difficult to keep one from catching this infectious disease. The virus traveled not only through inflicted flea bites, but it was airborne as well. Attacking the rich, the poor, newborns and elders, everybody was an easy target. I firmly believe that the 1300s Bubonic Plague changed the way of world history.

The bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is considered one of the most lethal in history. Recorded pandemics of the plague reach back to 541 A.D. and minor epidemics can still be found around the world (Plague). The plague consists of a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. This bacterium has the ability to mutate quickly and can easily destroy the immune system of the infected person, “it does this by injecting toxins into defense cells such as macrophages that are tasked with detecting bacterial infections. Once these cells are knocked out, the bacteria can multiply unhindered.” (Plague) The bubonic plague has a number of symptoms ranging from a headache to seizures. The most distinguishable

75 to 200 million people died from the Bubonic Plague it was estimated about 2\3 of the European population died. Bubonic Plague hurts the Immune system by attacking an invading it. The only way to stop the Bubonic plague is by antibiotics and prescription drugs that destroy the virus. If not treated it will enter the bloodstream and attacks the lungs. Which could give the body Pneumonic plague which is deadly and the Pneumonic plague will give people hepatitis which will give the body fatigue and muscle weakness. The cells in the body system fights off bad pathogens. It keeps the body from getting infected with viruses and diseases like the flu. The Bubonic plague entered the Immune System by changing it form to disguise itself so it will let it in when it is in the Immune System. It attacks by shutting it down and kills cells inside. So the body cannot fight it off. Then it enters the bloodstream and without the immune system it cannot be stopped because the immune system fights off the virus. And without it fighting off viruses the body is prone to any diseases and viruses like the t cell which keeps the flu virus away from the body. And the Bubonic plague kills the t cell which now it is prone to the flu. And it also attacks the b cell which makes antibodies which helps the body become healthier and safer.

What is the plague? The plague or referred to as the Black Death, according to the CDC (2015), “is a disease that affects humans and other mammals and caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Humans usually get plague after being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an animal infected with plague”. There are three categories of a plague. There is the bubonic plague, which is the most common form. With this form bacteria infects the lymph system and causes it to become inflamed. Symptoms of this type of plague are fever, headache, chills, and swollen and tender lymph nodes, which are called buboes. Then there is the Septicemic, which occurs when the bacteria multiply in the blood. Symptoms of this type of plague are fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, shock, and possibly bleeding into the skin and other organs. Also, skin and other tissues may turn black and die, especially fingers, toes and the nose (CDC, 2015). Then there is the Pneumonic Plague, which is the most serious form of plague and occurs when Y. pestis bacteria infect the lungs and cause pneumonia (NIH, 2015). This is the only form of the plague that can be transmitted human to human. Symptoms of this form of the plague are ever, headache, weakness, and a rapidly

Why was the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) so Devastating to European Society? The Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death, was a huge epidemic in the mid-1300s. It killed off about 20 million Europeans within 1348 and 1351and was thought to originate from China and move westwards through means of infected fleas and rats through shipping and trade (Document 1).

The causes of the Black Death – the flea, the rat, and the bacillus Yersinia pestis– have been labeled the “unholy trinity” (Boeckl). The flea is able to live in environmental conditions of about 74° Fahrenheit and 60% humidity (Ibid). Before the Black Death reached Europe, they were experiencing those same types of weather conditions. The rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis and the human flea, Pulex irritans, are both capable of transmitting plague (Boeckl). Sometimes, an infected flea cannot ingest blood because Yersinia pestis obstructs its digestive tract. The blockage causes a flea to regurgitate into a bitten host rather than ingest the host’s blood, thereby infecting the host with plague (Boeckl). Unable to eat, the famished flea will bite with more frequency, accelerating the spread of plague. A flea can be carrying Yersinia pestis without it blocking the flea’s digestive tract, in which case the flea does not transmit plague when it bites a host. Also, Yersinia pestis can only enter a victim through a bite, as the bacilli cannot pass through intact skin (Gottfried).

When Bubonic Plague visited England in 1348, it was called the Great Mortality. We know it as the Black Death that lasted until 1352 and killed vast populations in Asia , North Africa , Europe , Iceland , and Greenland . In total, it extinguished as much as fifty percent of the world's population.

5. How does one individual get/receive this disease? One can get the Bubonic Plague when you are bitten by Yersinia Pestis flea or a Yersinia pestis infected rodent. One can also get the Bubonic Plague through a piece of contaminated clothing or any other material which was used by a person with the Bubonic Plague. The contaminated object must touch an opening area in one’s skin, but this happens in rare cases.

A plague is a bacterial infection that can take on more than one form. One of the greatest plagues that have stricken mankind throughout history was the Black Death. The Black Death was the outbreak of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area between 1347 and 1351. This plague was the most severe plague that hit the earth because of its origin (the spread), the symptoms, and the effects of the plague.

plague in and of itself is a bacterium called yersinia pestis and is carried by rodents (Scogna).

Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. These bacteria remain in a dormant state primarily in a rat flea’s foregut. Once the flea has bitten a victim it regurgitates the contents in its foregut into the bite location. Once the bacterium has entered into a mammal’s warm body it begins to reproduce and spread throughout the mammal’s body. The reproduction of this bacterium creates large painful swollen lymph nodes which are called buboes. Once these buboes get large enough they begin to ooze infected body fluid so that any contact between an infected person and a healthy person will facilitate the spread of this disease. (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012)

Bubonic plague is transmitted primarily by the bite from infected fleas; however, transmission can occur by bites or scratches from infected wild rodents and cats, or contact with tissue from infected animals. It is rarely spread from person-to-person. Patients develop sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes (called buboes). This form usually results from the bite of an infected flea. The bacteria multiply in the lymph node closest to where the bacteria entered the human

Plague is an infection carried mostly by rodents and their fleas rural areas. The initial form of Plague is usually the result of an infected flea bite. House pets such as dogs and cats that roam outside however, have the ability to carry the infection by the infected rodent and bring it home to their humans. Less commonly, humans

The Bubonic Plague and a variation called the septicemic plague was spread throughout Europe by oriental rats that carried infected fleas. Little is known to why the infection never seemed to affect the carrier rats. Infected fleas were being starved by the infection, so they began feasting upon the people they came into contact with. These fleas coming into contact with any human being would infect the human with the disease. These people were now carriers of the Bubonic plague or Black Death. These infected people would then spread the disease by coughing or coming into direct contact with another human being. However, this disease, since not being transmitted via rat would now be called the Pneumonic Plague. (www.insecta-inspecta.com).