The Black Plague

The Black Plague ravaged Europe in 1347 and lasted until 1350 wiping out a third of the European population. The culprit was the small Oriental Rat Flea containing the deadly bacteria from black rats. Because no knew where this awful disease came from or how to stop it, people would try everything from burning innsence to ringing loud bells to keep themselves healthy. The disease itself came in three forms, bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic, each having differnt symptoms and each spead in different ways. With the Bubonic victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear. The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The mortality rate was 30-75%. The pneumonic plague was the second most common. The pneumonic and the septicemic plague were probably seen less than the bubonic plague because the victims often died before they could reach other places. The mortality rate for the pneumonic plague was 90-95%. This form affected the lungs. The septicemis form had a mortality that was close to 100% (even today there is no treatment). Symptoms consisted of a high fever and skin turning deep shades of purple. Victims usually died the same day symptoms appeared. In some cities, as many as 800 people died every day.

Because of this horrible disease, everything was affected in some way or another. Music and dance turned very quickly from happy to depressing. Art depicted skeletons, and the great fear of the times. Children were sometimes abondoned or left to see there friends and family die a slow horrible death. For those that survived it was a life changing and mentally damaging time.

It is interesting to learn that today the mortality rate would have been far superior with all the medical advances known today. It is interesting to learn about the long road from which we all have come.