Essay on Disease and Treatment in the Middle Ages

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

In the early 1300s, life in Europe was completely normal. The plague had yet to even be a thought in their minds. Many people had heard a rumor

People were sick, tired, and in much pain all their lives(History of Medicine). Doctors thought that the heart got blood from food and water, so they would eat more so their bodies would absorb it(History of Medicine). Although many people were not healed, medicine was based on theories so hardly anyone was healed. Life before the 1500s was hard, but during the 1500s they had a better understanding of the body(Blakstad). Wise Women and doctors would try to invent more complex medicines, but they still had no effects. Instead they used herbs and bark as painkillers(Blakstad). They also had humoralism, which was a theory that said health came from four body liquids. They had four humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. It was believed that if these were not balanced in the patients body, it caused sickness. Four elements, which were water, fire, earth and air, caused the humors(Blakstad). Hippocrates discovered the humors. Since the body was not easily understood, mental and physical illnesses/treatments were combined. According to Nancy Siraisi, an American historian of medicine and author, the most common age for death was childhood. Obviously people didn't live long. One out of five died before the age of one. One out of two died before ten. Housing, diet, wars and plagues all played into early modern Europe's health

The rapid spread is mostly blamed on this because rats were common.“Historians and physicians alike have puzzled over this issue and, though many answers have been suggested, none has won general approbation. One is that the general hygiene of Europeans improved after the Middle Ages, but while people may, in fact, have started bathing more after the fourteenth century, rats and fleas which

patients. Because they were paid by the state, the doctors were able to treat both the

During the Middle Ages a horrid illness infected many people. The horrid plague as name Bubonic Plague. This illness killed hundreds of people. The plague had bad symptoms, caused a depressing time, and left few survivors.

The Bubonic plague was incredibly devastating during the medieval times. Lots of people lost their families to this horrible disease. It was very difficult to live during that time knowing that you were probably going to die too, or that you would have to suffer through the death of friends and relatives. There wasn't really anything that you could to prevent yourself from catching the plague, people had no hope or faith that things would get better, they thought it

The Bubonic Plague was a spreading disease. It infected and killed most of the population of Europe within a few years. The plague began spreading in 1348 when fleas caused this infection when they bit animals such as rats. The bacteria entered the skin through the flea bite which soon infected the lymph nodes. These rats stowed away on trade ships which quickly passed this deadly disease to humans. The Bubonic plague was very disastrous to the European society until it finally began to slow down in 1351. It killed so many people due to its rapid spreading. It lowered the religious belief and trust in God by many people in the community. Also, the local physicians lacked the knowledge of the plagues symptoms and its cure.

Epidemics would break out in Europe and the origin of the disease would never be identified. To top that off, the Bubonic plague “returned to Europe at least once a generation since October 1347” (Manchester 34). The medieval period was a time of alarming disease for people to be living in.

The Middle Ages were a dark time, education became unimportant and people were forced to live in houses close together and, consequently, hygiene was atrocious and it made the perfect place for Yersinia Pestis to thrive. Yersinia Pestis is the virus responsible for the Black Death, a deadly disease that rapidly powered through Europe, killing nearly all of the people in its way. The Black Death had a lot of gruesome and scary symptoms that made bystanders sick just watching. Certain people were more likely to acquire the Black Death than others. Since peasants had worse living conditions than the nobility, they were far more likely to catch the Plague. The history of the Plague and its track is surprising to a lot of people and when they realize just how many people the Plague actually killed, they will fully understand how scary it was for the people who didn 't have the disease that there was a chance they could become sick too. Its symptoms, who is most likely to acquire the Black Death, and it 's history are just a few of the reasons that make the Black Death a scary disease.

The Middle Ages are known for its abundant amount of deaths from plagues and wars. Let’s first look at what happened particularly in Europe during these

The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.

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)

Everyone can relate to getting sick and having to go to the doctors and going to pick up medicine at a pharmacist.But what you might not know is how people with illnesses or some sick symptoms were treated in the Medieval days.Receiving medication is something a bit different.People in Medieval times would go to the doctors. However the doctors had extremely limited knowledge and really did not know what caused illnesses.It was hard enough for ordinary poorer people or people who did not live in big main towns to get medical help.They had a difficult time for access doctors Those who were in need of medical assistance in those situations may have and ask local people who had medical knowledge.Most people when they had minor symptoms and nothing to serious hat required medical assistance,Such as upset stomachs,headaches,eye problems,exd.They Would go to the apothecary and there they would be given mixtures of

The great plague came in three different forms. The types of illness differed in symptoms, spread and sufferings. The bubonic plague was the diseases most common form. It was named this due to swelling called “buboes” of the victim’s lymph nodes. “These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple” (The Black Death). The longest expectancy with this form of illness didn’t often exceed one week. The second variation of plague was known as the “pneumatic