...The Bubonic Plague Analysis Contents I. Abstract II. Introduction III. Background Information IV. Discussion V. Diagnosis Test VI. Prevention VII. Conclusion VIII. Bibliography Abstract According to archeologists, Bubonic plague may have originated from Egypt and not in Asia as originally thought. The disease is termed ‘Black Death’ and is said to have also begun in North Africa. Archeologists and fossil insect experts report that the disease may have distributed as a result of the flooding of River Nile that forced the rats to infest the human populated areas during the 3500 B.C. The causative agents of Bubonic Plague are known as Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) that are normally classified as Gram-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. The coccobacilli are either rod or oval shape, and they is short. The Y. pestis metabolism is fermentative just like the other enterobacteriaceae, and they produce a thick antiphagocytic capsule that prevents the white blood cells from the ability to ward off the Y. pestis infection. In this paper, the disease Bubonic Plague will be discussed in details, including its causes, and the place where the recent outbreak has occurred. Introduction Bubonic Plague is brought by the Yersinia pestis, which is a Gam-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. As learned in classes, the coccobacilli are rod or oval in shape, and normally short in size. Just like other Enterobacteriaceae, the Yersinia...
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...About a third of Europe’s population and a quarter of Syria’s and Egypt’s were killed by the disgusting pestilence known as the Bubonic Plague. The epidemic, also nicknamed the Black Death, was a disease that caused painful blisters on its victims, along with chills, fever, quick heartbeat and vomiting. It first appeared in Asia in the 1330s, and spread to Europe and northern Africa in the 1340s. Since cultures differ dramatically by location, people who followed Christianity and people who followed Islam had very strong distinction in opinion about the illness. Christians and Muslims had such different responses to the Bubonic plague because of their reactions, placing the blame and acceptance of the tragedy. One reason the responses to the Black Death varied so much was the initial reactions. A quote from a Christian in this time period reads “It was a cruel and horrible thing; and I do not know where to begin to tell the cruelty and the pitiless ways. It seemed that almost everyone became stupefied from seeing the pain. And it is impossible for the human tongue...
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...Cursory Analysis Having finished up with the answer of the evils of religion as opposed to the evils of civilization, Gandhi criticizes the requirement of protection from “the Pindaris, and the Bhils”. He states that suffering their perils would be better than requiring the British protection to repel it, as that would “render us effeminate”. The chapter is concluded by putting forth the idea that home rule can only be achieved when “we” stop fearing our countrymen, whoever or whatever they may be. Now the idea changes from pax britanica being questioned to how “Railways, lawyers, and doctors have impoverished the country”. Consumption is treated as a disease that plagues the population, showing a false pretense of wellbeing as is apparent from the lines “Consumption does not produce apparent hurt – it even produces a seductive color about the patient’s face, so as to induce the belief that all is well”. Now the concept of civilization being the broader umbrella which covers consumption and other such maladies is introduced. The example used to substantiate this assertion comes in the form of the railways, a symbol of modernity which showcases the spread of civilization. Arguments including the spread of germs, the bubonic plague, and evil in general is used to drive the point home. It is further stated that the same cannot be used to spread the word of the “good”, as the virtuous are not selfish and, hence, travel at a snail’s pace, further stating that the obstacle of distance...
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...enough to write. Who knows what literary works would have been written had it not been for the plague and the rate at which it devastated. The Black Death caused, prevented, and interrupted many works of literature. The Black Death, a plague on humanity capable of wiping out one fourth of Europe’s one hundred million people in the course of five years, made its mark between the years 1347 and 1351 (Marks). During that time, three types of plague were to have know to exist: Bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic (Marks). Although bubonic variant of the plague took the most time to kill it was still the most deadly simply due to it being the most widespread of the three (Marks). The bubonic plague got its name from the numerous buboes or cancer like growths that would develop on the victim’s armpit and groin (Marks). Another symptom that accompanied the growths was the presence of a constant fever. The buboes were swelled lymph glands as a result of the body’s lymphatic system trying to fight the disease. Basically, they were pockets of the dead white blood cells that piled up from fighting the plague bacteria. A total lymphatic shutdown was imminent when the buboes appeared. Death came in three to five days of infection (Marks). The other two types of plague, septicemic and pneumonic, were much less widespread than bubonic but in most cases more deadly. Septicemic plague is an infection of the blood stream with the Pasteurella...
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...How the Black Death Affected the Modern World The Black Death is the worst plague that mankind has ever had to face, much worse than anything we face today. The mortality rate was astounding; whoever was unfortunate enough to become infected with the Black Death would die in a matter of days while suffering through a great deal of pain and agony (Snell). Its peak was around 1348-1353 in Europe, ranging from England all the way to Eastern Europe and beyond (The Black Death, 1348, 2001). The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia, before spreading west. The plague then travelled along the Silk Road and reached the Crimea by 1347. From there, it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population. All in all, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in the 14th century (Ibeji, 2011). The plague disease, generally thought to be caused by Yersinia pestis, is commonly present in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents, including marmots, in various areas including Central Asia, Kurdistan, Western Asia, Northern India and Uganda (Edmonds). Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe at the trading city of Caffa in the Crimea in 1347 (Whipps, 2008). After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol...
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...laboring force. This meant that farm labor was unavailable to plant and tend crops. Supply decreased, and prices for goods rose. Businessmen saw this and reshaped their businesses in order to meet the demands of potential customers. What worked in their favor was the increase of “the gross volume of luxury goods manufactured and sold”. Furthermore, due to the agricultural pool decreasing, “the rural worker indeed demanded and received higher payments in nominal wages”. Even though there were higher payments given, people were still intrigued by the plague and city dwellers moved to the country to avoid the disease. Many in the country moved to the cities in hopes of getting employment. The times were suitable for inflation and in many countries the governments stepped in to bring the economies back into line. The inflation “reduced the purchasing power (real wage) of the wage laborer”, and in many cases, made the worker worse off than pre-plague. This contributed to peasants later bargaining for better working conditions and responsibilities due to the deaths. David Routt is persuasive in his argument due to all the information present in his essay. He covered many different areas in the...
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...several names such as Black Death, the Bubonic Plague and the Black plague. Regardless of what you call it, it was one of the world’s worst pandemic in history. This plague tore through Europe destroying villages and communities. The immediate impact was fear, chaos, and complete devastation, the long term effect proved to improve economics and societies. Black Death spread through Europe beginning in 1346 and ending in 1353. Seven years of “unexplained” deaths, the plague chose no race, color, age or gender it attacked and killed 50 million people or 60% of the population (Benedictou 2005). Symptoms of the plague began with swollen glands in the neck, armpits, and groin areas. Internal bleeding gave the skin a blackened coloring earning the name “Black Death”. Other symptoms range from red blotching of the skin “rosies” Once bitten these would appear within a couple days and the victim would die within a week. Even a more powerful strain of this plague was the pneumonic plague; this version went directly to the lungs and respiratory systems. Now not only was this spread by the fleas but also through human to human contact. Once infected a simple cough would send droplets and blood to the next victim, highly contagious and it killed in two days. It was recorded that up to five hundred people could be buried in one pit in less than a month’s time. (2011) There were a number of beliefs of how the people thought the plague began and spread: the religious...
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...Global pandemics have helped shape history and the modern world. Without the diseases that cause pandemics nations and empires would not have been able to expand as far and wide as they did and they would not have grown in complexity and culture. The bubonic plague took the world to the Dark Ages, but also resulted in one of the greatest ages of enlightenment, the Renaissance. Beautiful works of art, literature, and philosophy were born from this. Somewhat sadly not all pandemics have resulted in ages of enlightenment. Often they come fast, kill even faster, and then are gone. One pandemic that still plagues the world today, with no end in sight, is AIDS. An incurable virus that became the center of attention in the 1980's. Bubonic plague and AIDS are very different in nature, but have resulted in many similar political, economic, and cultural impacts within human societies. The differences and similarities of these pandemics can help us understand pandemics better and also can help us to prepare for future pandemics. First we must look at the bubonic plague, how it spread and how it impacted the world socially, economically, and culturally. It was first recorded in Europe by a Sicilian chronicler by the name of Michele da Piazza in October of 1347, who recorded the port of Messina having twelve galleys full of sailors carrying the disease down to the marrow of their bones.1 Black Death began to really take its toll in 1348, spreading through Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland...
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...The Plague If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality. A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic effects of the plague in Europe were harmful to the population and economy. The Black Plague is an Oriental Plague marked by inflammatory boils and tumors of the glands. Such break outs were found in no other feverish disease. Inflammatory boils often appeared and black spots which indicated decomposition of the body ultimately appeared on the skin. Another symptom of the plague was openings with a discharge of offensive matter. Due to the significant pain and rapid spread of the plague medicine was ultimately never found, although attempted. People consumed in the plague died within three days of getting it. The plague began in 1333, fifteen years before it broke out in Europe. Many natural disasters were engulfing the Asian countries; floods, starvation, droughts, and the plague. A drought and food shortage had crucified the country which was started by floods of the Kiang and Hoai Rivers. After all of these disastrous events still an earthquake, continued floods, and food shortage ended in late 1300’s. Around 1339 in northwestern Europe...
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...archeologists, Bubonic plague may have originated from Egypt and not in Asia as originally thought. The disease is termed ‘Black Death’ and is said to have also begun in North Africa. Archeologists and fossil insect experts report that the disease may have distributed as a result of the flooding of River Nile that forced the rats to infest the human populated areas during the 3500 B.C. The causative agents of Bubonic Plague are known as Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) that are normally classified as Gram-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. The coccobacilli are either rod or oval shape, and they is short. The Y. pestis metabolism is fermentative just like the other enterobacteriaceae, and they produce a thick antiphagocytic capsule that prevents the white blood cells from the ability to ward off the Y. pestis infection. In this paper, the disease Bubonic Plague will be discussed in details, including its causes, and the place where the recent outbreak has occurred. Introduction Bubonic Plague is brought by the Yersinia pestis, which is a Gam-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. As learned in classes, the coccobacilli are rod or oval in shape, and normally short in size. Just like other Enterobacteriaceae, the Yersinia pestis has a fermentative type of metabolism, and they produce antiphagocytic capsule, which prevents white blood cells from wedding off the Y. pestis infection. The Y. pestis is a causing agent to a number of diseases including bubonic, septicemic and...
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...In the years 1346-53 an epidemic of the terrible bubonic plague, spread across Europe. This plague is more commonly recognized as the Black Death, a name that came several centuries after. In order to stop the spread of this devastating disease, it was necessary that the physicians and scientists of that day begin to research and understand certain things: where this disease came from and how it spread so fast among the population; the symptoms and stages that made this disease unique; and how it was impacting society. Research shows that one way this disease most likely evolved, was from the Central Asiatic Plateau, the stretch of dessert that touches Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Most researchers believe it came from rats,...
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...Sodder Children It is estimated that 356,00 people lose their homes to fires. The Sodder family was one of these people. On christmas eve of 1945 the Sodder house caught on fire and burned to ashes. Out of 10 children, only 5 survived the fire but the remains of the other 4 were never found. The mystery of the what happened to the Sodder family can be summed up in two theories: Teh Kids were taken by 4 adults that had no help and the kidnapper paid off the police and fire department to keep quiet. While the Sodders were only regular everyday people their disappearance has confused and bewildered people for over 50 years. While some people disagree on what really happened, Most can agree that around 1:00 am “Jennie was drifting back into sleep when she heard what sounded like an object landing on the roof and then rolling down along the side of the house” (The Sodder Children Mystery). A couple of minutes later Jennie woke up to the smell of smoke and started yelling for her husband to wake up ( Mystery of Missing Children). When George Sodder got up he went to get his ladder to save his kids but it wasn’t there, so when he went to go get his trucks to help neither would work (The Sodder Children Mystery). Even though only five of the 10 children got out of the house, no bones or body parts were found in the rubble (5 Missing Children). Some believe that the children just died in the fire, but most think something very different happened. One of the most popular theories is that...
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...Validation of the dried blood spots in monitoring toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa and it has a vast worldwide distribution. Cats are the definitive host of T. gondii, and all other hosts in which only asexual reproduction can occur are defined as intermediate hosts. Humans are known to be infected by many routes: a) Ingestion of Toxoplasma tissue cyst or pseudocysts with raw or partly cooked meat or during hand-to-mouth contact after handling undercooked meat and from using knives, cutting boards and utensils contaminated by raw meat. b) Ingestion of sporulated oocyst with unwashed fruits, vegetables and contaminated water (Coutinho et al., 1982) or through hand-to-mouth contact following gardening and cleaning a cat's litter box (Dubey, 1998). c) Despite, the worldwide progress in the food accessibility in the last decades, millions of people have diseases related to food consumption. Although Toxoplasma gondii is not a major food-borne pathogen, but it is crucial from the public health viewpoint (Batz et al., 2011). Also, despite the initial concern that T. gondii is related to dealing with cats and cat’s litter, fifty percent of toxoplasmosis cases are food-borne (Slifko et al., 2000; Scallanet al., 2011). The main routes for transmission of T. gondii to human are ingestion of the environmentally resistant sporulated oocysts, or eating raw or undercooked meat containing the cysts or pseudocysts (Dubey...
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...“I, Nathanael Paul Jackson, never in all my years believed I would see such an act of God’s anger against mankind as I did between the years of 1348 and 1349. No one knows the exact cause or even how the plague was spread. The air and waters were infected with some sort of pestilence, as if God, Himself did it. No one was immune from the plague. It did not discriminate, rich and poor alike; man, woman and child could become its next victim at any time. Within two to three days of showing signs of being infected with the disease, the person was dead. Swelling in the armpits and groin was a sure sign of death for that person… Everyone dealt differently with the disease. I was a twenty-seven year old common blacksmith’s assistant with a wife and child, living in Paris, France when this devastation arrived. When this punishment struck, but not before it took the life of our only child and we had to bury him with our own hands, we fled to the country to try and survive. Some...
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...million people in the 14 century, or at least 60 percent of Europe’s entire population. This article refers to the Black Death as a disastrous mortal disease and how it’s spread in Europe around 1346-53 transformed and frightened society. The article explains that the Black Death was in fact an epidemic of bubonic plague. This is a disease that was caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis that circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density. The Black Death territorial spread changed and restructured Europe’s society by its rapid transportation; according to the article the disease moved an average of 600km in a fortnight by ship. I strongly believe this article will prove to be beneficial to the formation of my paper because it examines and explores key concerns in connection to the rapid spreading of the Black Death resulting in millions dying. This article provides information as to what exactly the Black Death was during this time, what resulted in Europe’s population being affected by it and how it was transported. This article will provide in detail information as to how this plague affected society and the length of time it took to the plague to deteriorate a human beings body before dying. I think this article will further support my argument because it provides an outstanding large figure regarding the amount of lives that were lost as a result of this...
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