Preventing Black Death Plague In The Medieval Time

The life-span of many victims that were infected was about twenty-four hours and if this disease was not treated they usually died. Certain anti-bodies can be used to help the disease go away but this did not usually work. Usually people diagnosed with the plague must be isolated so that others can’t get infected and potentially cause more deaths. Without treatment, about fifty percent of people with the Black Death die. Treatment reduces the death ratio by fifty percent (Dugale). Some remedies of this disease are the vinegar and water treatment, which was that the person be put to bed and washed with vinegar and rose water. Another form of treatment was to lance the buboes, which were the large swollen lymph nodes that cause this disease, and in doing this the swellings associated should be cut open to let disease leave body, and certain stuff be put on the flesh wound. The last form of treatment was to watch the victims diet and what foods they ate because some foods enhance the disease (Cures For the Black Death). States and cities tried frantically to prevent this disease from spreading by preventing new travelers from coming in because they might carry the disease (Merriman

The Black Death held a mortality rate of between 30 and 40 per cent. Victims had no idea what had caused the disease. And neither did the doctors in Medieval Times. The Black Death was treated by lancing the buboes and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Various other remedies were tried including tobacco, arsenic, lily root and even dried toad.

There were also many symptoms that seemed non-life threatening, but would soon be. These symptoms were “swelling in the neck and armpit, dark patches, and by death, people would start to cough up blood” (Causes 2). Who ever suffered with these symptoms could have known it was the Black Plague, or could have thought it was the common flu, just worse. Treatment was the cause of the death. This is because, “the Black Plague had no treatment, so if someone got infected, there would be no chance for that person, so they would die 4-5 days later” (Gilbin 7). Due to there being no medical treatment, more and more people would die. There were some things that people believed would help them. There were, “many treatments that the people thought would do good for them. First, they would drain the puss filled blisters. Also, they would drink wine and become lighthearted, to make them not feel as much pain. Finally an outrageous treatment was that the people would tie I live chicken to themselves, to try to get rid of the disease” (Clark 5). These treatments were bound to work, since people believed in it, but they would never work, and when they got sick, they would still die within 4-5 days. These types of symptoms and treatments would either kill or just make someone suffer to

All throughout history nations all over the world have dealt with deadly diseases, but one in particular brought out the fear in the nations of Europe, the bubonic plague or as others call it, the black death. During the thirteenth century, medicine was not as developed as it is now, causing England to suffer more than others. According to Cantor (2002) the European nations encountered the bubonic plague in its most brutal state during 1348 to 1349, taking out about a third of Europe’s population (pp. 6-7). He continues on by claiming that one big question to this event was whether or not the plague was the full cause to the loss of lives or if there was another cause along with it (p. 11). Cantor (2002) also explained that the reason the black plague stopped in Europe around the eighteenth century could possibly have been from an introduction to a new species of rats, the gray rat (p. 13). Even though there is controversy based around the plague being spread by rats and how it was stopped by isolation, it may have taught countries useful strategies and ways to grow stronger.

The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, was a disease that devastated Medieval Europe, between 1346 and 1352 it killed 45 million people, wiping out a third of Europe's population. Today, we know that there were many causes of the Black Death. Medieval towns had no system of drains, sewers or trash collections. In such slovenly conditions, germs could grow, and diseased rats could call these medieval towns their homes and infect the people who lived there. Many historians believed the plague originated in china and spread to other countries by trade routes. Infected people and/or infected rodents such as mice or black rats. The Black Death was caused by strains of the bubonic plague. The plague lived in fleas, and fleas lived on

The catholic church and doctors came up with some very weird cures for the plague. Even though they didn't work at all it provided hope for the people. You wouldn't want to be told that there isn't a way to cure it . Some of the cures included putting cooked onions on the buboes, taking a live frog putting on it until the frog burst. They thought the frog would absorb the poison and once the frog burst all the poison would have been absorbed. They also cut the buboes open and drained the fluid out.

bled the patient or administer a concoction of herbs" (Bubonic Plague – Black Death in the

Starting in the early 14th century and ending around 1353, the Black Death was a horrific time in history. The Bubonic Plague killed about sixty-seven percent of Europe’s population. People living in Europe at the time of the Black Death responded differently to the devastation around them: many people fled, some stayed to investigate, and others saw it as an opportunity to obtain what others had lost, mostly money.

In document 2 it states, “To cure these infirmities neither the advice of the physicians nor the power of medicine appeared to have any value or profit; perhaps either the nature of the disease did not allow for any cure or the ignorance of the physicians . . . did not know how to cure it; as a consequence, very few were ever cured; all died three days after the appearance of the first outward signs, some lasted a little bit longer, some died a little bit more quickly, and some without fever or other symptoms.” This shows that many people died quickly because the physicians did not understand how to deal with the rapid spreading of this disease and how to treat it. Also, document 6 states “Medieval physicians wore outfits made of cloth or leather to protect themselves from the plague. The bird-like beak contained spices and vinegar-soaked cloth to mask the stench of death and decay.” This indicates the common belief back then that the smell of the dead bodies was spreading the disease. This also demonstrates the ignorance physicians had about germs which was a big part of why the plague affected so many people in such a short amount of

The first and foremost action taken was praying, as people originally believed that the Plague was a punishment from God, so they relied heavily on him saving them. But as the death numbers grew, people began to realize that the church could not explain the Plague, or help them survive. People began to try and experiment, with bazaar remedies. Doctors encouraged patients to carry sweet smelling posies, suffice the nursery rhyme, ‘Ring a Ring a rosy’, a rhyme about the Black Plague. Some people would eat rotten treacle, others would live in sewers, believing that the Plague was only in the air. Eating crushed emeralds, was an expensive yet popular remedy. But worst of all remedies, were the urine bath and the poo paste. These particular remedies involved bathing in human urine, and rubbing a poo paste into the infected buboes. It just goes to show how desperate people were during these times, although unfortunately none of these remedies worked, and symptoms continued to show. For the bubonic Plague, this included fever, weakness, shocks and chills. The main symptom, buboes, often grew around the armpits or

In Elizabethan times many deadly diseases had spread such as the plague, smallpox and typhoid, but the causes and cures had yet to be discovered. Due to bad hygiene because of open sewers and rubbish dumped in the river, this caused disease to easily spread as it was a natural habitat for rats, fleas and lice. The plague was carried by the fleas living in the fur of rats. As a result of this one third of the population died. Elizabethan physicians believed that medicine was basic, they had no idea why and how people were getting so sick, treatments were based from superstitions and guesses so they used a mixture of herbs for cures and also believed leeches would ‘suck

A lot of methods that were proposed to people were very medieval. For example, doctors would tell sick patients to avoid shower, to bleed out until they lost consciousness, (”I have seen people who prophylactically gave up to 8 pounds of blood; most people gave about 5...” document 13, page 58). With a lot of observation (and that is what many doctors did, only observe, so they would not have contact with the plague), doctors started to notice different types of the disease (as one of the chroniclers stated on Document 6, page 32: “And it is said that the plague is of three different types of infection”), and the symptoms as well (“In January 1349, there appeared new symptoms” document 19, page 84). Many doctors were criticized because of their greed, cowardice and impotence. To make money, doctors would visit patients and prescribe their remedies. However those would not work, proving that their art was false. Some doctors even thought of poisoning coming from the Jews could be the reason of the plague.

Doctors in Medieval times did not know the cause of the plague and were unable to find a cure. To help prevent the disease from getting too bad, doctors would give their patients flowers and other scented things, as they believed the rats wouldn’t like the nice smells. Because Christianity dominated their lives, many people believed that they had caught the disease as a punishment from God for their sins. They would sit and pray all day. Some people whipped themselves for punishment, which only helped spread the disease when the blood was flicked.

One of the ways they thought they could prevent it is by burning sweet smelling items in the house and around them. According to a group of doctors’ article in 1348, to prevent the plague it says “Every one of you should protect himself from the air; wormwood and chamomile should be burnt in great quantity” doc A. There for proving that it was thought that good smelling items are good to help keep away the plague.

In other news, the Bubonic Plague can be treated. Some treatments are wormwood, balm, and mint that were used to take care of sickness and nausea. The problems in the lungs could have been treated by using liquorice and comfrey. Headaches during having the illness were treated using bay, lavender, sage, and rose. Many other treatments were used to help treat the Bubonic