Black Death/Bubonic Plague
...a nursery rhyme, “Ring Around the Rosy”, thought to have originated from this disease: “Ring around the rosy”, meaning the rose-colored areas of skin, “Pocket full of posies”, being the sweet-smelling flowers that those tending the sick would carry to ward off the stench of disease, “Ashes, ashes” referring to impending death, “All fall down”, the final death (www.emedicine.com, Demetres Velendzas). A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to combat it. On the next page is a table providing the population of Europe corresponding with the year. Also shown are the results of the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague of the 14th century (Miller-Keane Medical Dictionary, 2000): Year Population 1000 38 million 1100 48 million 1200 59 million 1300 70 million 1347 75 million 1352 50 million The Bubonic Plague is an infection caused by the organism Yersinia pestis, which occurs in wild rodents and is transmitted to humans by fleas. This transmission takes place when an infected flea bites a human, or ingestion of the fleas’ feces occurs, which is not incredibly uncommon. Once a human is infected, he/she could develop pneumonia. Once this occurs, the disease is easily spread by infected droplets through coughing. Epidemics are effortlessly begun in this manner. Thirty different flea species, along with ticks and human lice, have been identified as plague-carriers (www.emedicine.com, Demetres Velendzas). The bacteria that cause plague can thrive and grow in a flea’s esophagus, preventing food from entering the stomach. On instinct to prevent starvation, the flea begins a blood-sucking rampage, feeding on anything with which it comes in contact. Struggling to swallow, the flea vomits the germs into the victim, which produces an inflamed lymph node called a bubo. The plague spreads along the lymph system to every organ including the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and sometimes, though rarely, the covering of the brain. In treated cases, the plague has a one to fifteen per cent death rate, and in untreated cases, the death rate rises to between forty and sixty per cent (www.emedicine.com, Demetres Velendzas). Though incidences of the disease are rare, once started, it is nearly uncontrollable. Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague include (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000596.htm, A.D.A.M): • Sudden onset of high fever • Chills • General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise) • Muscular pains • Severe headache • Smooth, oval, reddened, painful swellings of the lymph glands called buboes in the groin, armpits, neck, or elsewhere. • Seizures If doctors suspect a person to be infected with plague, serious precautions will be taken. Victims will be isolated so as not to put anyone at risk of infection. Some sufferers may be given oxygen and breathing devices and kept in solitude for at least two to three days or until the infection is entirely cleared. Most victims have some degree of septic shock, such as blood infection/poisoning, and are monitored closely in an intensive care unit. The known most effective antibiotic in cases of the plague is streptomycin sulfate in combination with tetracycline and sometimes other remedies. At one point in time, a plague vaccine was manufactured, though it has come to be out of date and unnecessary, so it is no longer made. A new vaccine, however, is under development for those who are at serious risk. The Bubonic Plague is certainly not a contender to be taken lightly. Unlike smallpox, the plague will never be wiped out. To this day it resides in millions of animals and billions of the fleas that inhibit them. On average in the United States, eighteen cases per year have been reported of plague, mostly in the Southwest (www.nlm.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000596.htm, A.D.A.M.). Risk factors include contact with wild animals, flea bites, lice, or contact with a victim. Though it is possible to stop this particular disease before it becomes fatal, prevention is, as always, the most effective antibiotic. Pneumonic plague, the second most common type of plague, is a result of inhalation of the germ. This is a very serious type of plague. The death rate for one who has caught pneumonic plague is 100 per cent if it is not treated within twenty-four hours of infection (www.emedicine.com, Demetres Velendzas). Infected persons easily spread this disease by coughing droplets from the lungs into the air. It is commonly feared that pneumonic plague bacteria may be released into the air as a weapon of biological warfare in an act of terrorism (http://my.webmd.com, Miller-Keane Medical Dictionary). Pneumonic plague usually occurs during outbreaks of bubonic plague, and it is highly possible that it can be a direct complication. There was a time when pneumonic plague was always fatal, yet with today’s medical advancements, the chances of recovery are fairly good if treatment begins within twenty-four hours (http://my.webmd.com, Miller-Keane Medical Dictionary). Pneumonic plague symptoms may include: • Severe cough • Frothy, bloody sputum • Difficulty breathing Pneumonic plague is treated with the same medicines and precautions as bubonic plague with the exception of oral tetracycline, which is very strong and not recommended for children (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplugs/ency/article/000596.htm, A.D.A.M). Septicemic plague causes severe blood infection throug...