Pros And Cons Of The Bubonic Plague

The Bubonic Plague killed over twenty-five million people during the Elizabethan Era (David Perlin, PhD and Ann Cohen). “The origins of the Black Death can be traced back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the 1320’s (Ed. Geoffrey J. et al).” The Bubonic Plague has picked up many nicknames. For example, it has been called “The Black Death,” and “one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse” (Ed. Geoffrey J. et al). The Bubonic Plague was very prominent during its time with many people’s lives being affected by the treatments, preventions, and twisted theories that occurred.

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

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

The roots of this fearsome plague are very chilling to think about knowing that a mere flea can be the cause of the bubonic plagues epidemic. The more specific medical or scientific term for this disease is Yersinia Pestis. This was named after the doctor, Alexandre Yersin, who isolated the bacteria in 1894 during the pandemic that began in China in the 1860’s. The earliest traces of Y Pestis can be found all the way back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the 1320’s. The cause of the sudden eruption is yet to be solved but the earliest major toll it has taken in our history books is in China in the 1330’s during the expansion of trade in the middle and high

In the 14th century the Black Death engulfed Europe killing an estimated 50 million people. The pandemic is considered extraordinary because it did so in a matter of months. This disease was carried by fleas, the Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, found mainly in rodents, in this case in rats, and the fleas that feed on them.

The bubonic plague, also known as Black Death, is a prime example of the diseases transported throughout the Silk Roads. It is believed that this disease originally started in south China and was spread to northern China via Mongol warriors and Chinese travelers, eventually spreading westward along the Silk Roads and trade lanes to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The bubonic plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium and is spread by flea bites. Usually, fleas prefer to live on rats, but the large decrease in rat population due to the Little Ice Age caused the fleas to seek new hosts. The disease was previously localized to Mongolia and central Asia because of the nomadic lifestyle, but they could survive in sacks of grain and clothing and with the increase of trade along the Silk Roads, the fleas quickly made their way across the Mediterranean. Europeans were not prepared for this type of catastrophe and consequently suspended their daily lives. Many people abandoned their houses, churches and schools closed, and the sick were quarantined inside their homes while bodies of the deceased were piled in the streets and buried in mass graves. In some cases, the infected were burned along with their belongings in an effort to destroy the disease. By the end of the initial outbreak, almost 40% of Europe's population had died and trade had been brought to a halt. The Black Death had profoundly changed the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural foundations of modern Europe (Acrobatiq,

Bubonic Plague/ Black Death Topic Questions: ( The stuff in colors isn’t plagiarism) What was the Bubonic Plague? The bubonic Plague is a plague spread by infected fleas. The poisoned fleas feed on their hosts, then spit the blood back onto the wound on the animal (such as the rats that spread the Plague during the London Elizabethan Era).

In the early 1330s, an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in Europe. The bubonic plague mainly affected rodents, but fleas were also able to transmit the disease to people. Once people were infected, they quickly infected others, which meant the disease spread very rapidly among the population. The plague caused fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes. The disease also caused spots on the skin that started out red and eventually turned black, which is where “The Black Death” got its name. (The Black Death: Bubonic Plague) During the 14th century, there seemed to be no rational explanation for what was happening. No one knew exactly how the Black Death was transmitted from one patient to another and no one knew

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).

Some other symptoms of the Bubonic Plague that only affect less than 10% of the infected, are: coma, stiff neck, and confusion.

The prevalence of disease in the thirteenth century was very common in Europe,and Africa, later on spread to parts of Asia. Currently the bubonic is not that common but is still infecting a small portion of the earth. The Bubonic Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia Pestis, a zoonotic bacteria, usually found in small animals and their fleas. It is transmitted between animals and humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact, inhalation and rarely, ingestion of infective materials.

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)

There are vaccines for plague. They have been used since the late 19th century. The plague vaccine licensed for use in the U.S. is prepared from Y. pestis organisms grown in artificial media, inactivated with formaldehyde, and preserved in .5% phenol. Bubonic plague is able to be cured by just taking some antibiotics. The antibiotics by mouth are called Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin. By injection the antibiotics are called Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin and Doxycycline. For pneumonic plague early treatment is essential to reduce the chance of death. The antibiotic must be taken 24 hrs. of the first symptoms. Although, there are no more plague vaccines in the U.S. at the moment. They are trying to create new

Transmission of Y. pestis is primarily zoonotic with occasional droplet by aerosol transmission. It normally infects rodents, with humans being accidental hosts. There are at least 73 different genera of mammals and 30 species of fleas that act as reservoirs in nature (2). Humans do not get infected directly by rodents, but rather by intermediate hosts: fleas. The fleas get infected when they ingest blood of an infected animal. The bacteria produce a coagulase that forms a blood clot in the flea, which inhibits them from swallowing. In the flea, they

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).