S: THE BLACK PLAGUE
BC: What was the Black Plague? How did it spread? What were the symptoms? All of your questions about the Black Plague will be answered in this book.
FC: The Black Plague: No One Gets Out Alive | By Dominick Baglivo
2: The Black Plague was a disease that swept through Europe around 1347 till 1351, with only small outbreaks through the next 60 years. Just about everyone who was stricken with this devastating died within a week, there were very few noted cases where people survived. This deadly disease is estimated to have killed about half of the population of Europe, around 25 million people. The deaths averaged around 7500 people dying of the disease each day. Modern doctors say that | the Black Plague was a dealy bacterial infection. This type of infection is still fatal today. In 2003, there were more than 2,100 human cases and 180 deaths , almost all of them in Africa. Most people now can survive this disease if | What was the Black Plague?
3: given the right antibiotics soon enough people in Medieval times believed it was a punishment from god for their sins. Back then, there was no doctor's advice, medicine, or remedies that could treat this disease. While there were no actual cures for this disease there were many herbs that could ease the pain and symptoms. After the Plague, prices and wages rose, peasants moved from the country into towns, and greater value was placed on labor. This also led to the decline of feudalism.
4: Like any other disease, The Black Plague had many horrific symptoms and side effects. One of the most common side effects victims got were dark patches and swollen boils all over their body which gave the disease it's name. Some boils could grow to the size of an egg or a small apple. Many of the infected would get swollen lymph nodes. The infected would also get fevers along with bad lung and throat infections. These infections would also give victims chest pains and cause them to vomit blood. The plague would also cause headache | and nausea, like most bacterial infections would. Not everyone infected with the plague experienced body aches but it was another common symptom in people infected with the plague. | What were the symptoms?
5: Due to the similar symptoms many people were diagnosed with the flu. If doctors would have had known the difference between The Plague and the flu, maybe not as many people would have died from it. The most common symptom of the flu and the Plague were headaches, nausea, and fever. | Don't worry, it's just the flu.
6: The Black Plague had come from Asia to Europe and started spreading in Europe sometime around 1347. The Plague started in Asia and traveled to Europe by rat-infested Italian ships trading across the Mediterranean Sea. The rats on these Italian ships had already been infected with the disease when they returned back to Europe from Asia. Many of the men on the returning ships had already started dying from the disease before they returned. | The Black Plague originally started with a deadly outbreak in China during the early 1330s. Since trade between Asia and Europe was very popular during the Medieval Times it didn't take very long for the disease to spread to Europe. | How Did It Spread?
7: Fleas in Europe would go to these rats and bite them and the fleas would then become infected with it too. These infected fleas would then go to the humans, bite the humans, and infect them. Being bitten by a flea was not the only way people could have caught the Plague though. It was also spread through coughing and sneezing between people. Since it was contagious between people, many people avoided going out in public, and some even boarded up their house so no one could visit and possibly infect them. | Diagram showing the cycle of how the Black Plague spread. | The Plague was easily spread through sneezing and coughing.
8: The End | Thank you for reading!
9: Works Cited Bingham, Jane. The Usborne Internet-linked Medieval World. Tulsa, OK: Usborne/EDC, 2004. Print. "The Black Death, 1348." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.