Black Death
As early as the thirteenth century, man has had one unwelcome organism along for the ride, Yersinia pestis. This is the bacterium more commonly known as the Black Death or the plague. Plague is a word that has struck fear in the hearts of man since the earliest of times. It has also led to some of the greatest historical events and stories of our time. Plague is divided into three distinct types, classified by method of infection. The most common is bubonic, with a mortality rate of 30-75%. An infection resides in the lymph nodes (around arm pits, neck, and groin), causing them to swell. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear and consisted of headaches, nausea, vomiting, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, and a general feeling of illness. The disease also causes the skin to turn black. Fleas, rats, and humans serve as hosts for the bubonic plague. Black rats carried the fleas, which the bacteria multiplied inside of, who in turn would bite a human infecting them. The second most common form of the Black Death is the pneumonic plague, with a mortality rate of 90-95%. Even though this is not the most common, it is the most dangerous type of plague. The lungs are infected causing slimy sp
Some of the effective measures taken were to board up houses found to have the plague, isolating the sick in them. Although there were a few cases reported as late as the nineteenth century and quite possibly even today modern medicine has made this world a much healthier place to live. Others would dip handkerchiefs in aromatic oils, to cover their faces when going out. Priests and bishops did not have the answers as to why this was happening. Enforcing strict health and quarantine measures was somewhat helpful. Moreover, where there are rats, there are fleas. Art forms took on that of human suffering and carnage as well as the symbolic use of the skeleton. This type of plague often caused disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), which caused a high fever and the victims skin to turn a very dark purple. Therefore, the plague was probably thought to be the wrath of god. People were seeking higher wages; they began to flee their land leaving unattended crops and animals, which eventually died due to lack of care. In the winter, the disease seemed to disappear because the fleas were dormant but each spring brought on a new attack. A pocket full of posies: used to stop the odor of rotting bodies which was at one point thought to cause the plague, it was also used widely by doctors to protect them from the infected plague patients. Prestige, spiritual authority, and leadership over the people were lost. The change in art and music demonstrated the grim reality of the world. Children were faced with death and pain at a very early age, seeing their loved ones die around them.
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Acceptance Essays
