During the Enlightenment many changes were happening. There were breakthroughs in all sciences not just medicine. Old ideas and theories were replaced with more modern ways. New medicines were developed and new treatments were tested. Some of the discoveries are still in use today with more modern machinery and diagnostic tools. This was an exciting age for all sciences. Columbus made a voyage to a new world and new people. Trade and exploration continued into the Enlightenment. The visits and trade increased resulting in many instances of virgin soil diseases. This resulted in the Columbian Exchange. Not only food and knowledge were exchanged but also new diseases and medicines. The most notable medicine discovered in the Americas was cinchona bark to treat malaria. Smallpox, measles, influenza, chickenpox, typhoid and typhus killed many indigenous people in the New World. The New World sent syphilis back to the Old World as shown in the pdf of the Columbian Exchange. Numerous discoveries marked this period. The most notable …show more content…
The Great Plague of 1665 in London killed eight thousand people a week at its peak. Surgeons lanced buboes in an ineffective attempt to rid the body of bad humors (The Great Plague). Yersinia pestis lives in fleas on many types of rodent species. The rodents serve as long-term reservoirs for the bacteria without the rodents experiencing excessive die-off. Dogs and cats can host fleas infected with Yerisina pestis (Ecology). This makes the plague a zoonotic disease. The way the bacterium was transmitted in London was by the bites of infected fleas. Other animals can become infected by fleas that traveled from another host. Epizootic infections are then transferred to humans according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1666 London had a fire and the city was cleaned and better sewer systems were built. These improvements reduced the number of rats and ended the
The plague was caused by bacteria known as Yersinia pestis and was common in rodent populations (“Ecology and Transmission”). When rodents, such as rats, became infected and began to die off, the fleas who were once feeding off of them needed to find a new host. During Medieval times rats lived in close quarters with humans, even infesting their ships. This neighboring proximity made it easy for fleas to carry the disease to humans (Benedictow). Not only could the plague be transmitted through a flea bite, but exposure to contaminated body fluids and tissues, such as feces and blood, could cause infection. Once a human was infected, they could transmit it through coughs and sneezing, although more rare (“Ecology and
Plague is a very deadly bacterial disease. It has been a recurring force that has wiped out much of the world’s population during it’s outbreaks. The bacteria that is responsible for one of history’s most deadly diseases is Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis first infectes a rat. The rat is then the host for a flea. The flea feeds on the blood of the rat which is infected by the bacteria. For a reason still unknown today the bacteria started multiplying in the flea blocking it 's stomach. This caused the flea to throw up the infected rats blood into the human when it feeds on it.
The winter before the Great Plague was a dry one. Allowing rodents to live more freely. Since the weather was on the more dryer side, the rodent population did not decrease as it would during any other winter. When spring came along the air was hot and sticky, giving the female rodents a chance to give birth to two litters. With London’s hotter weather, it soonly became known as the rat infested city. Another spreader of the Great Plague was fleas. Once the fleas had gotten ahold of the disease, they would spread it to stray cats and dogs. These strays would then pass it to the homeless.
The Great Plague killed an estimated 100,000 people, almost a quarter of London's population in 18 months.[2][3] The plague was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium,[4] which is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected rat flea.[5]
The germ lives in the stomach of the fleas and the bloodstream of an infected rat, therefore humans can get infected from a bite from either creature (“Bubonic Plague”). The fleas usually transmit the disease in warm and dry weather such as 60-77 degrees Fahrenheit. Fleas go to humans usually after its host dies (Eckenrode). The plague usually affects humans by accident. The plague usually goes from rodents to fleas to rodents (“Plague”). Vector fleas can live up to six weeks, but can only transmit the plague for about two weeks (Eckenrode). Yersinia pestis bacterium infects bloodstreams of rats and other wild rodents such as squirrels, prairie dogs, and gerbils (Scogna). The plague can be transmitted by more than 200 different species of infected rodents. The plague can also be transmitted by domestic dogs, cats, sheep, rabbits, and even camels (Meyer). Humans get infected by a bite from a flea that has ingested the blood from an infected rodent (Scogna). Bubonic plague bacteria gets into a human’s bloodstream when they itch at a flea bite. Human lice and ticks can also transmit the plague to humans (Eckenrode). The plague can also spread from person to person due to the bacteria infecting the lungs and being transmitted when a person coughs or sneezes (Scogna). Bubonic plague may also be transmitted by infected bodily fluids (Meyer). Humans may also get infected by direct contacts with infected tissue.
The “Black Plague” is a term applied to an infectious disease that is caused by a gram negative organism called “Yersinia pestis”. Rodents ,such as rats, squirrels, rabbits, cats, mice etc., are the main source of origin for this bacteria, the bacteria itself being spread between animals by their fleas. The bacillus has been prevalent in wild rodents in the continents of Europe and Asia for many centuries, and the disease has, at times, devastated inhabitants and influenced the course of history. Major outbreaks in the human population mainly result from exposure to rats that are infected. While there is only one bacteria causes plague, it can affect people in three different forms: Bubonic, a form characterized by swelling of the lymph
The Columbian Hypothesis argues that the collision of cultures that occurred as a direct result of Columbus' journey was not restricted to materials and practices, but also to organisms (this exchange is now referred to by historians and other scientists alike as The Columbian Exchange). While the Europeans brought with them diseases such as smallpox, typhus, measles, and influenza, according to the theory, Columbus and/or his explorers contracted syphilis from the natives, and carried it unknowingly back to the Old
During the time of 1346 through 1353 a mysterious illness had swept through Asia and Europe. This illness killed about 25 million people over the 13 years it was prominent. This deadly illness was then identified as the plague. A pandemic that swept through Europe but originated in China. It was a rodent disease where an infected flea, with the bacteria Yersinia Pestis, would bite the rodent making it ill. The rodent population was starting to die off, due to the plague, resulting in mass quantities of fleas. Since Humans and rats were in such close quarters, and there were fewer rodents around, the flea would jump to human. The way the plague spread was by zoonosis, this is where a disease is transmitted from animal to Human. The plague
All types of the plague are derived from the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is not only found in the United States, but also all around the world (“Frequently Asked Questions”). This bacteria is very specific to the Bubonic Plague and is used in scientific tests to determine whether or not a human has the disease. The Yersinia pestis bacteria was discovered by Alexander Yersinia in 1894 and “is a gram negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobic bacterium” (Tucker). In order for this rod-shaped bacteria to travel from rodents to humans, it has to be passed around through the Sylvatic and Urban Cycles. The Sylvatic Cycle is where wild rodents are bitten by fleas. After the rodents are bitten, the fleas carry the bacteria between the rodents until the bacteria is dead. If a rodent carrying a flea with the disease and comes in contact with another wild species, the disease will then be passed around throughout that species. In order for humans to acquire the Bubonic Plague, the bacteria has to enter the Urban Cycle. The Urban Cycle is where the fleas carrying the bacteria bite a domestic animal and then the domestic animals pass it to humans when they handle them. The Urban Cycle can also pass the disease to humans if a flea carrying the bacteria directly bites a human. Therefore, if any human comes in contact with a flea carrying the bacteria or a
The infectious disease known as “the Plague” is spread by a bacterium classified as Yersinia pestis, which is usually transmitted in the bites of fleas or infected animals or people.
Bubonic plague has had a major impact on the history of the world. Caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, and transmitted by fleas often found on rats, bubonic plague has killed over 50 million people over the centuries. Burrowing rodent populations across the world keep the disease present in the world today. Outbreaks, though often small, still occur in many places. The use of antibiotics and increased scientific knowledge first gained in the 1890s have reduced the destruction of plague outbreaks. In Medieval times, with the unknowing help of humans, bubonic plague exploded into a pandemic. Known as the ³Black Death², it decimated Europe in 1350, killing 1/3 of the
The enlightenment and scientific revolution brought more research and experimentation to the medical field. More significant medical advancements
The plague originally was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The bacteria circulated among wild rodents where they lived in great numbers and density. An area of such would be known as a ‘plague focus’ or a ‘plague reservoir’. Plague among humans arises when rodents in human habitation, normally black rats, become infected. The black rat, also known as ‘house rats’ and the ‘ship rats’, like to live close to people, the very quality that makes it the most dangerous (“History today”).It took 3-5 days for the infection to set in, in most of the cases it took another 3-5Days for the infection to increase. In total, from the time the community was contaminated a person was infected, and became ill. It would have taken 23
Excessively eliminating millions, the extent of the contagious power of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, was absolutely mystifying. The plague is a result of the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, that circulates around wild rodents that live in great quantities. As fleas feast on a contaminated rat colony, the colony significantly dies off, forcing the rat fleas to turn on another organism: humans. Consequently, the process of contamination takes approximately three to eight days before the bacteria colonies are large enough to cause swellings known as buboes, and an additional three to four days after that the infection reaches other organs, usually causing death in over eighty percent of
The American Revolution was a significant change on the view of democracies and the degree in which they were successful. After the American Revolution, Americans gained the freedoms and liberties that they fought for against the British. They reviewed the British as unfair, with a government that was corrupt and immoral. The Americans fought for the government they wanted, one of self-rule, or in other words autonomy. Politically, the american society was changed through the institution of a federal republic with individual sovereignty, in the form of a president. The social view of American society also changed, where women gained more freedoms and slaves were mostly set free. Economically, the American society didn’t experience much change other than a massive war debt that needed to be paid off.