World Health Organization 2017 Plague

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Bubonic Plague
Researchers largely rely on Anthropology to study a wide range of infectious
diseases. In This context, they may focus on finding out how illnesses are
experienced, shaped and understood within the political, historical and global
forces. Cultural anthropology is perceived as a science of humans largely focused
on the study of social aspects such as magic, religion, politics, law, language and
social structures. With regard to health issues cultural anthropology focuses on the
study health culture based on culturally determined values and beliefs. With the use
of cultural anthropology, Anthropologists can study diseases through analysis of
skeletal remains. An example of disease that can be studied through this method is
the Bubonic plague. According to the World Health organization (2017), bubonic
plague is the most prevalent dorm of plague transmitted from animals to humans
through flees. Additionally, its fatality ratio constitutes 30 to 100% for cases left
untreated. The primary focus of this essay will be the on the cultural Anthropology
of Bubonic Plague.
Question one
Description of the Disease
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease caused through bacterial infection
and transmitted predominantly by fleas.Yersnia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria

responsible for causing the disease. Mostly found in rodents in the United States,
Africa and Asia, the plague is transmitted to humans through fleas. Therefore the
humans can be infected with the disease through bites from infected vector fleas,
handling of infected animals without any form of protection or through inhaling of
respiratory droplets from infected patients (Pradel et al. 2014).
Symptoms
The infection with a plague is usually characterized with various signs and
symptoms which arise between 1 to 6 days after acquiring the plague. In this regard
those with the plague may feel very sick, weak or develop headaches, chills and
fever. Additional symptoms for bubonic plague include buboes, which are swollen
and painful lymph nodes found in the groin, neck and arms. At advanced stages the
sores can change to open lesions with pus. Also in case of failed treatment of the
disease the causative bacteria can spread to other parts of the body including lungs
leading to pneumonic plague (World Health organization 2017)
Mortality Rates
The plague’s mortality rates range from 30% to 100% for untreated cases. Its
advanced state is also ultimately fatal unless treated early. Based on its contagious
nature, it may lead to severe epidemics by means of person to person contact.
Based on recent statistics out of the 3248 cases reported globally, 584 people died
(World Health Organization 2017).
The origin of the disease and where it can be found
Bubonic plague originated from china between early to mid-1300.It later
spread along major travel routes to northern Africa and Mediterranean. It later
spread to Scandinavia, Northern Britain and Southern England between 1348 and

1350(Nordqvist 2010). Also the effects of the disease have been felt in all
continents except Oceanic Continent (World Health Organization 2017)
Major outbreaks of the Bubonic plague
Although the plague originated from China, its major outbreak of the Bubonic
plague or better known as Black Death took place in Europe between 1347 and
1352. The outbreak was quite severe leading to the death of 25 million people in a
span of 5 years (Frith 2020). Devastating was also the fact that London recorded a
total death of 60% of its laborers within one year from 1348 in what may be defined
as its most severe plague in history (IFLScience 2020 )
Question Two
Unfortunately, there has not been any tangible evidence of the plague on the
skeleton. However, a recent analysis of skeletons from the medieval times gave a
clue about what the bubonic plague was like for those who were affected. For
example, the DNA sequence of the revealed the presence of the bacteria
responsible for causing bubonic plague. From the analysis of the skeletons,
researchers have found out the people in the pre-plague era were living in poverty
based on the high levels of malnutrition and rickets in those affected. Evidence also
suggested that the disease largely killed frail people with poor health statuses. Also
through the analysis of the skeletons in London archaeologists found out that the
population was largely in poor health status as shown by the presence of childhood
malnutrition, bad teeth, anemia and rickets. There were also signs of back damage
attributed to subjection to hard manual labor (Thorpe 2014)
An analysis of the skeletons has also revealed that people pf the post-plague
era lived longer than those who lived before the pre-plague era. Anthropologist