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Black Plague

 

            Boccaccio said that the victims, "ate lunch with their friend and dinner with their ancestors in paradise." (Cartwright p.42) This is a quote that can clearly explain the devastation that the Bubonic Plague had on most people. Currently just mention the words black plague or bubonic plague, and quickly shivers run up and down a humans spine. For most people the death menace was 90% affirmative after exposed to one of the many bacteria's. Over the years there has been 3 major outbreaks including ones in the 6th, 14th and 17th centuries(Silverman). Total there was over 137 million victims dead. At it's worst the plague killed 2 million people a year(Silverman).
             The earliest outbreak was in 1330's in China (Rice). Since china and other surrounding countries were into trading, the epidemic quickly spread to Europe, and Asia. Within 10 days it is able to spread through-out a city. To many of the citizens it felt as your shadow was you murderer. After 5 years from the original outbreak 25 million people were dead which was 1/3 of Europe's population (Rice). The plague did not disappear for a period of time until the 1600's (Rice). Although during the winter the plague would disappear because the fleas which transmitted the bacteria were dormant then. .
             Many people always wondered why the plague was called the Bubonic plague or the Black Plague. When the "victim" was first trapped with the disease their symptoms consisted of fever, delirium, infection of the lungs, coughing, and even pneumonia(Silverman). The most visible symptom was the swelling of the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are located in the arm-pits, the groin and in the neck(Giblin p.11). When the lymph nodes swell they become very enlarged and may become the size of an egg(Giblin p.11). People would notice these enlargements on other people and would give them the name of buboes. That is where Bubonic Plague originated from(Giblin p.


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