The Bubonic Plague essays

The Bubonic Plague essays The Bubonic Plague is perhaps the most widely known and feared of all diseases. Its death rate was at 90% of all that contracted the deadly bacteria. It is perhaps the most contagous of all diseases as it could be passed on to another through the air. Coughing, sneezing, and even talking were all ways to transmit this deadly infection to others. While it was a horrible death, it came on rather swift feet; the usual time from infection to death was less than one week. The Bubonic Plague, called the Black Death by some, usually hit in epidemics causing widespread, fast, and gruesome death. The three major outbreaks were in the 6th, 14th, and 17th centuries. The total death toll for those epidemics was 137 million people. In its worst forms it could kill 2 million unsuspecting souls a year. Although the epidemics that killed half of Europes population were bad, the worldwide spread of the disease caused terror in all the minds of the world. The worst known disease with such bi g killing numbers, was caused by something we as humans overlook in our everyday lives, rats. Rats were infected by the bacteria known as Yersinia pestis after they were infected, fleas would bite them and contract the deadly disease themselves. To these animals however the disease was not deadly, it only infected the human body. When a person contracted the disease, it was pretty obvious. Their lymph nodes (called buboes, giving the disease its name) swelled up, blood would clot under the skin forming black patches, (giving the plague its dark nickname) high fever, and delirium. In some cases the lungs would be infected and the pneumonic form would be contracted. The plague was so bad that when rats had been discovered as the cause, bounty was offered for every rat that was brought in dead to the local rat claiming station. The plague has appeared all over the world, even here in New Orleans. Today however the plague is not a big worr...