Category Archives: Black Plague

Black Death

Posted on by

Probably one of the most famous pandemics is the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death. I was most familiar with the plague that swept Europe in the 1340s (primarily from The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. One of my favorites and one I reread almost once a year.)

But recent scholarship has discovered Yersina Pestis in Bronze Age Samples. This is a very old disease. The oldest human sample is 5000 years old but it is now estimated that the organism is probably 7000 years old. Wow. It is thought that the disease originated in Northern Eurasia but one of the Bronze Age samples is from England so the disease was already traveling.

But most of the graves found so far are individuals, not mass graves. What happened?

Well, the theory put forth in BBC History, Vol 23, is that the spread of the disease coincided with the rise of the Mongol empire in the thirteenth century. As they spread out, reaching even Italy, they carried some of their own provisions with them. Guess what loves grain? Rodents.

It has been known for some time that rodents and fleas were the disease’s vectors.

One of the goods Italy was importing was grain.

COVID traveled via airplanes. The Black Plague traveled by ship as goods and people went from country to country. It returned in waves and one estimate posits that half the population in Europe died. Certainly entire villages were wiped out.

The disease is still around and still lethal without treatment.

Plagues

Posted on by

After experiencing Covid this past week, I have a new interest in the plagues that have occurred throughout human history.

Some, like smallpox, have been eradicated in the wild. The last case occurred in 1978 when a lab worker was infected and died.

Smallpox has been around for over 3000 years; the exact beginnings are not known. It was widely feared, and with good reason.The ordinary type of smallpox was extremely lethal with death rates ranging between 30 and over 60 percent. Almost as feared was the scarring left in those who survived. The malignant form is even more lethal, causing death in almost 100 % of the time. Smallpox epidemics swept through the population in regular waves. George Washington was so nervous about the effect on the Continental troops that he insisted everyone be variegated (inoculated with matter from a pustule. Death could still occur but was less likely.)

Another greatly feared plague was the Bubonic, the so-called Black Death. It also swept over Europe in waves and is still the most lethal pandemic recorded, killing between 75 and 200 million people. Estimates of death rates in Europe range between 45 and 60%. The Hemmoraghic form had a mortality rate of between 90 to 95%. Entire villages were wiped out. The loss of so much population created tremendous economic and social upheaval and, arguably, contributed to the rise of the middle class.

The Black Death is so-called because it causes the flesh to die and turn black. Because the Bubonic Plague (called that because of the swellings, or buboes) is bacterial, it is treated with antibiotics and is now curable.

Influenza. There have been six pandemics in the last 140 years, with the 1918 pandemic being the worst. Millions died and millions more were sickened. Like COVID, it is a respiratory disease. Severe cases still cause death. Because it is viral, antibiotics do not work. A new vaccine shot must be taken every year as the virus mutates quickly.

And then we come to COVID. Vaccinated and boosted, my case was not terrible. I felt awful the first day but then the illness moderated to nothing worse than a bad cold.