The Black Death

 

# The Black Death

 

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There was a virus in 1347 BC. It killed one-third of the people around the world. An analysis revealed the virus killed more than 200 Million people. It’s called as ‘Plague’. The infected people with this virus had an extreme and terrible death. In that time every people on Earth was under a circle to get infected with the deadly virus. Plague was not something new but that one was a different string.

 

The outbreak started from middle, Asia. Europeans were not unaware about the virus but for geographical distance, they were doing their business and living without any fear until 12 ships arrived through Black Sea to Suny Sicilian. People were unaware about the disastrous scene. They were literary not ready for the boom.

 

Nobody noticed the awkwardness of the ships until they smelled something weird. A group of workmen got in the ship and what they saw is nothing other than a living graveyard. More than half of the people on board were dead except a few but nearly to die.

 

Almost decomposed body, blood sheds all over the floor and death screaming of remaining live people who were about to die. People gathered around. Finding no solution, they pushed the ships in the sea again. But it was too late and the workers of the yard were already infected.

 

The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The plague then entered Europe via Italy, carried by rats on Genoese trading ships.

 

Entire Europe got infected. From 1346 to 1353 it killed about 200 million people. Only in four years it killed 25 to 30 million Europeans and worldwide 75 million people were died for this virus. The world with the population of almost 380 million was struggling for the recovery. It took over 200 years to recover the human population.

There was a time where almost the whole world become infected with the virus. Its symptoms were fever of 100 to 106 Fahrenheit, coughing and headache and the most visible symptom blood blister. Infected persons were dying just within 3 to 8 days of their infection.

The consequences of such a large number of deaths were severe, and in many places, the social structure of society broke down. Many smaller urban areas hit by the plague were abandoned by their residents who sought safety in the countryside.

 

It was such a nightmare for the world. Situation was brutal. Infected person died and left untouched, decomposing on the roadside. Medieval doctors had no idea about such microscopic organisms as bacteria, and so they were helpless in terms of treatment, and where they might have had the best chance of helping people, in prevention, they were hampered by the level of sanitation which was appalling compared to modern standards. Another helpful strategy would have been to quarantine areas but, as people fled in panic whenever a case of plague broke out, they unknowingly carried the disease with them and spread it even further afield; the rats did the rest.

 

After five years of brutal killings, the plague was about to leave. But after pandemic famine, shortage of workers, lack of shelter, food and water and fear of some unseen deadly creature hunted the world.

 

People had to burn the deaths instead of burring. There are two reasons, firstly, fire-flame will kill the virus too, and secondly there was no place to burying dead bodies. The people who came from the other countries were not allowed to get in the city. They had to stay in self-isolation for 30 days in ships which were extended to 40 days soon after. People had many rumours. One of these is “God is angry on us”. They believed if one take bath with rose water, the bacteria of plague will die

 

 

Today we know reason as well as cure for the most deadly plague in the history. The disease was caused by a bacillus bacteria and carried by fleas on rodents. It was known as the Black Death because it could turn the skin and sores black while other symptoms included fever and joint pains. There are three types of plague, and all three were likely present in the Black Death pandemic: Bubonic plague, pneumonic plague and Septic emic plague.

 

Bubonic plague was the most common during the 14th-century CE outbreak, causes severe swelling in the groin and armpits (the lymph nodes) which take on a sickening black colour, hence the name the Black Death. The black sores which can cover the body in general, caused by internal haemorrhages, were known as buboes, from which bubonic plague takes its name. Other symptoms are raging fever and joint pains. If untreated, bubonic plague is fatal in between 30 and 75% of infections, often within 72 hours. The other two types of plague - pneumonic (or pulmonary) and septicaemia - are usually fatal in all cases.

[Pikachu]