The Black Death swept across Asia and Europe during the middle 1300’s. It began in Central Asia. Ships that were used for trading carried rats. When the people got bitten by the fleas on the rats, the fleas gave them the plague. From these ships, the plague spread throughout Europe.
When the world could not speak Octavia E. Butler’s, “Speech Sounds”, an apocalyptic story that portrays how disease has caused the ability to speak impossible and has shattered society and causes many to die from the disease or its latent effects. The loss of speech could impact a society to the point where only the desire to survive is the main focus of human existence. History records periods were naturally occurring diseases have caused unimaginable suffering and the death of millions. These periods involved a slow progressive process that ended in a relatively short period, for instance, The Plague of Europe lasted from 1348 to 1351 and the “death toll throughout Europe was at least 25 million out of a total population of 40 million” (Bugl par.16).” During these times the knowledge of the disease process was unknown because the science of medicine was not as developed as it is today. While “Plague” is still present today it does not affect the speech of those who contract the disease.
The cause of the disease and its way of spreading were not known at the time. It would be four more years before Koch in Germany proved that a bacterium, the tubercle bacillus, could actually cause a disease; but the germ theory was not well understood, even though the spread of disease by filth was considered the likely cause. The epidemic was so severe that Memphis was evacuated except for 19,000 persons, of whom 17,000 were stricken with the disease. Crosby describes Memphis as a city of corpses, with some of the features remindful of the great plagues of Europe. A large part of the book is concentrated on the Yellow Fever
The plague germs were carried by fleas which lived as parasites on rats. Although it had first appeared in Britain in 1348, the islands were never totally free of plague, but it was like an unpleasant possibility that people just learned to live with while they got on with their business. This time it was different. In 1663 plague ravaged Holland. Charles II forbade any trade with the Dutch, partly out of wise concern, and partly because his realm was
It can be cured through antibiotics (McNeill, W. H.). The plague is a disease of rodents. A human can be affected when bitten by an infected flea that has fed on an infected rodent. The bacteria inside the flea, sticks together to form a plug that blocks its stomach and causes it to begin to starve. The flea then bites a host and continues to feed, even though it is unable to satisfy its
1.) Black Death The Black Death was a form of the bubonic plague, named so in recent times because it would cause the skin of a victim to become black in areas of swelling. However, during the duration of the pandemic, it was actually known as the Great Mortality, or the Pestilence. This disease came to Europe between 1328 and 1334 and lasted until around 1351, though several cases were still present after the typical duration of the plague. Though historians aren’t totally certain, they hypothesize that the plague originated in the Gobi desert.
Although health was always a concern including in ancient times, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, also known as the Renaissance period, public health became a major issue due to the bubonic plaque. It killed one-fourth to one-third of the European population between 1347 and 1351. In the sixteenth century, syphilis and a form of influenza became widespread in Europe. Smallpox reached America killing the native population. Due to these catastrophic events, the three most important contributions to public health came about for the Renaissance period.
Jonathon Carter HIS 103 Prof. Duff September 20th, 2009 Black Death Mankind has been on this earth for countless generations, in all of that time there has never been an equal or more feared natural disaster as the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death) which swept through Europe and Asia, it claimed a third of its Europeans' population as well as a substantial number of people that lived in Asia. The Black Plague caused an inordinate amount of chaos as well as destruction on agriculture, economics and also with in the form of social community. You could say that the bubonic plague invaded all parts of the course of life. The second influence came from the Christian Church and there theology on medicine. Now when it comes to Europe in the medieval times it was the Church that regulated the medical
This epidemic was even more severe than in Europe, as nearly two thirds of the Chinese population would succumb to the disease and to death. The Black Plague was carried along trade routes, from East to West, striking India, Syria, Mesopotamia and eventually Italy and into Europe. Coming into Italy was a catastrophe that perhaps could have been avoided. The trade routes from East to West were in turbulent times, with various interests wanting to control the routes and thus secure the riches that came with it. Tartar forces were laying siege to the city of Kaffa, held by the Genoese in the Black Sea.
Both scientists state that the epidemic “spread throughout the continent far faster than any modern plague” and that the plague was in fact “a viral hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola.” (A.W, 3). The devastating effects from the plague led the high death rates among the citizens of Europe. The Black Death is “estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population”. In total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated “450 million down to 350–375 million” (Alchon, 21) in the 14th century. Aside from the Plague deaths, there was also a decline in the birth rate.