Plague and People

Running head: PLAGUE AND PEOPLE 1
Plague and People
Name
Institution

PLAGUE AND PEOPLE 2
Plague and People
Did you know that the Black Death resulted into over 20 million deaths in Europe?-
almost a third of the entire continent’s population? The plague struck in the mid-14th century
following the docking of ships from Black Sea at the Messina Port. The people at the docks
witnessed a horrifying scene as most of the sailors in those ships were already dead. Those
people who were still alive were seriously sick and had black boils oozing blood and pus from all
over their bodies (Popowich, 2014). Over the ensuing five years, over 20 million people lost their
lives because of the disease. The diseases was thought to have been caused by Yersina pestis and
ended up massively affecting the European culture and society.
It was thought that the disease was caused by Yersina pestis, a bacillus. The bacillus was
spread from one person to another, through bites of infected rats or fleas, and through the air.
Both pests of the disease were found everywhere in the then Europe (A&E Television Networks,
2018). However, a huge chunk of the pests were found in different types of ships; an explanation
about how the plague spread from one European city to another. It only took a little whole for the
disease to spread to Marseille, then to Tunis (Rogers, 2019). It then reached Florence and Tunis,
the cities that took the central picture in one well-articulated trade network. Not much was
known about how the disease spread from one person to another and how to treat or prevent.
Physicians then used crude techniques to deal with the disease. Healthy people pursued all means
they could to avoid contracting the disease. Healthy people would avoid making any contact with
the sick. Doctors refused to offer assistance to affected patients and priests also refused to offer
last rites. Shopkeepers also closed their shops. Most people moved into countryside towns, but
they couldn’t evade the disease there. The disease then spread to cows, goats, sheep, chicken and
pigs.

PLAGUE AND PEOPLE 3
Plague infection can be transmitted across rodents after the flea has ingested
contaminated blood. The problem comes up when the flea lacks its natural host and seeks for
other hosts within the environment (Gottfried, 2010). The flea at this point may come into
contact with human beings and other animals. There are three forms of plague that currently
exists; septic, bubonic, and pneumonic. The most common type of plague is the bubonic, which
affects the lymphatic system. When a person is infected, their lymph nodes enlarge, and open
sores develop at advanced stages (Popowich, 2014). Black plague, also known as septic plague
affects the blood stream. Black patches develop because of subdermal hemorrhages.
The difference between resistant and susceptible rodent species is essential in
understanding the biology of plague. Susceptible species would die from the infection, meaning
that this would only be marked deaths of hundreds of rats and no human bubonic plague. The
plague cannot therefore be endemic in places where the local rodent species are deemed
susceptible. In warm climates, rodent may breed throughout the year, resulting into populations
that can support the occurrence of bubonic plague (DeWitte, 2014). In such a setting, there
exists no plague resistant population. The number of active fleas influence how bubonic plague
is spread. The environmental factors including humidity and temperature have a significant
effect on the laying of eggs and larvae development. The aspects of bubonic plague seem very
complicated, but one point of convergence is that rodents have a role to play in the maintenance
of numbers and on the spread (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).
Black Death had numerous effects on the culture and the society. The Plague swept over
a huge chunk of the population, and people no longer cared about possessions and the prices
went very low. There was also shortage of servants, which made farming very difficult (Byrne,
2004). These conditions were favorable for servants to demand increased wages. The cost of