Bubonic plagues

Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, which means that it is an infectious disease that is transmitted between animals to humans. And after a human has it, it can be transmitted from human to human by a single touch. It circulates mainly in fleas on rodents and is one of three types of bacterial infections caused by Yersinia pestis, a Gram-negative rod-shaped coccobacillus. The bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within 4 days if left untreated. There are at least five stages of bubonic plagues. During the first stage a persons lymph node swell which causes swelling in the groin and under arm pits called buboes. (Buboes start off red.) It would be excruciatingly painful for the victim. The second stage causes vomiting and a painful fever. Blotches start to appear on the victims body during the third stage. During stage four the bacteria will attack the nervous system which will cause spasms or uncontrollable shaking and possibly cause a fit. Stage five, which usually happens on day five, is when you have a 50% chance of either dying or living. If the buboes pop, which have turned black by now, and black and greenish puss come out then the victim will most likely live but if not they die. Throughout history there has been some really devastating outbreaks and there could possibly be some in the future. Between the years 541542 AC the Plague of Justinian hit. The plague was named after the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who was in power at the time of the initial outbreak. According to the views of some 6th-century Western historians, the plague epidemic was nearly worldwide, striking central and south Asia; North Africa and Arabia; and Europe all the way to Denmark and Ireland. In ancient Constantinople there were reportedly thousands of corpses littering the streets, a problem that was handled by having enormous pits dug across the Golden Horn to hold them. According to reports these pits held 70,000 bodies each, and it still wasn't enough to hold all the dead. Corpses were placed in the towers of the city walls and left inside houses to rot. It has been called one of the greatest plagues in history. The Plague of Justinian came back in each generation until about 750 AC. An Estimate of 40 million people were killed during the Plague of Justinian. The biggest outbreak of bubonic plague is Black Death. Black Death spread throughout Asia and Europe in the 14th century and is one of the devastating pandemics in human history. It is said to have killed an estimate of 75 to 200 million people. Black Death repeatedly returned to haunt Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the 14th to 17th centuries. According to researchers, the plague was present somewhere in Europe in every year between 1346 and 1671. When the plague first hit many panicked. People thought the causes were God, bad air, other cultures, and other things. They did not know that it was caused by Yersinia pestis. The name Black Death was a recent name, it was also called the "Great Pestilence"' or the "Great Plague or even the "Great Mortality". Some say it was named Black Death because of the final stage of the plague, while other say it was because black represents gloom and dreadfulness. Many scholars also believe that the nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosy was written about the symptoms of the Black Death. The Third Pandemic in 18551950 began in China where it became worldwide. It estimated that 12 million people died. The network of global shipping ensured the widespread of the disease, but India was reported to have suffered the most. The Third Pandemic created a series of achievements in the scientific understanding of the disease. The germ theory of disease had been put on a sound empirical basis by the end of the 19th century. Bubonic plagues have been part of our history as far as we can trace back. They have killed many people throughout history, whether during the Plague of Justinian, Black Death, The Third Pandemic or during other times it has struck. Bubonic plagues arent just in the 20th century and earlier, there has been

several reports since 21 century begun. The last report being in August 2013 when a teenage boy died in northern Kyrgyzstan from a bubonic plague. Not many people know this unless they deliberately look it up and sometime even then they dont know. To stop widespread panic the government likes to keep thing hushed, because people are crazy when they panic. People know about these plagues, mostly Black Death, but what they dont bother to find out is how it works. They know that it came from fleas on rodents but not how the fleas got it and were able to pass it to us. We need to know this so when next time a plague hits, and it will, we will be able to save as many people from dying. Bubonic plagues need to be recognizable, we need to be ready.

By: Cheryl-Anne Banta