Black Death Impact

Outbreaks of diseases, both past and present, have greatly impacted the world. Between the number of victims and lasting social impacts, these vicious diseases have become widely known throughout society. Two of these ruthless diseases are the Black Death and AIDS. Despite these incidents having occurred over six-hundred years apart, they swept over the world very similarly, leaving millions of people infected, or dead. The Black Death was a plague caused by the bacteria known as Yersinia Pestis. Rats and other rodents are the primary source of the bacteria, making fleas which bite these infected creatures the largest transmitter of the bacteria. The fleas bite the infected rodents and then bite humans to pass the disease on. The disease
can also be transmitted by people eating animals infected with the bacteria and through “aerosol droplets” (Definition of Yersinia Pestis). There are three forms of the plague: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic. The Bubonic Plague is the most common form, transferred by getting bitten by an infected flea or rodent. The Bubonic Plague acts similarly to a flu with symptoms including fever, headaches, chills, and swollen lymph glands, since the plague affects the lymph system. The Septicemic Plague gets transmitted the same way as the bubonic plague, making both plagues rarely spread from person to person. However, Septicemic Plague can develop if one has untreated Bubonic or Pneumonic Plague, since it transpires from the multiplication of the bacteria in the bloodstream. However, the most serious type of plague is pneumonic, which causes pneumonia after the bacteria infects the lungs. Symptoms such as coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and bloody “sputum” develop rapidly after exposure to the bacteria. Pneumonic plague is very contagious compared to the other forms, being spread through inhalation of the bacteria via infected people or animals. One can even develop pneumonic plague if a person has one of the other forms and it goes untreated and spreads to the lungs (Plague). The Black Death is a term coined for the plague that swept over Asia and Europe in the fourteen hundreds.
Victims of what is now known as the yersinia pestis bacteria were reported having “mysterious black boils” that “oozed blood and pus”, giving the disease the name the “Black Death” (Black Death). Originating in China in 1334, the plague soon spread along the multitude of trade routes both land and sea (Plague-History). The Black Death was introduced to Europe by Genoese merchant ships docked in Messina, Italy after traveling the Black Sea in 1347. When people at the port were ready to greet the twelve docked ships, they were shocked and horrified to discover most of the crew dead and the few alive severely ill. This is when the black boils were revealed and the name the Black Death was created (Black
Death). Even before the plague reached Europe, there was talk of a “Great Pestilence” along the trade routes that was extremely lethal, having already struck China, India, Persia, Syria, and Egypt. Once the disease spread to Messina, there was no stopping it. It continued on to Marseilles, a port in France, and Tunis, a port in North Africa. Once it reached Rome and Florence, two major trading centers of the world, this unexplainable plague became impossible to escape (Black Death). Due to the lack of medical knowledge and technology at this time, the plague was a complete mystery to everyone. No one knew how it spread or how it chose its victims. A once completely healthy person could be dead the next day. This fact installed a great fear and panic into healthy people, causing doctors to turn away patients, clergy to ignore their religious duties for the dying, and even family members to abandon their sick and dying loved ones. Naturally, as people of the Middle Ages, Europeans began to wonder if this was a divine punishment from God for sinning against him, the only cure to stop the plague being his forgiveness. This thought created a mass genocide of the time. People began to try and purify their cities and towns by killing the “heretics and other trouble-makers,” resulting in the massacre of thousands of Jews. Extremists even formed a group of flagellants that went city to city for thirty and a half days. In each city, three times a day, they would publicly punish themselves through whippings and beatings until the Pope finally ¨put his foot down¨ on the whole practice. Between lashing out at one’s neighbors or great self reflection on one’s own soul, people tried to make sense and cope with the plague in their own different ways (Black Death). The Black Death killed an estimated twenty million people in Europe, almost one-third of the continent’s entire population. Most of the plague’s destruction took place in the first five years it was introduced, however the plague continued to resurface for generations afterwards (Black Death). Not only did the plague tremendously decrease Europe’s population and genetic diversity, but it also drastically changed the way society was beforehand. Faith in God and the Church diminished among the survivors, there were labor shortages and therefore the cost of goods increased, and entire farms and buildings were abandoned and deteriorating. The only positive results of the plague were a decrease in the cost of food and a growth in higher levels of education, especially regarding medicine, public health and sanitation, and hospital management (Edmonds). People often misunderstand the difference between HIV and AIDS. HIV is the abbreviation for human immunodeficiency virus, which attacks a person’s immune system, specifically infection-fighting T-cells. If too many T-cells are destroyed, the immune system becomes susceptible to infections and infection-related cancers that can ultimately lead to death. Although incurable, if HIV is detected before it becomes too advanced, the disease can be controlled and managed through proper treatment, medication, and medical care. This makes it possible for people with HIV to live as long as someone who does not have HIV. However, if HIV goes unnoticed or untreated, an HIV positive person can develop AIDS (What is HIV/AIDS?). AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, standing for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
It occurs when an HIV positive person’s T-cell count falls below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, compared to the normal 500 to 1600 cells per cubic millimeter of blood. Disregarding T-cell counts, AIDS can also occur if if an HIV infected person develops one or more “opportunistic infections,” which are illnesses that develop due to weakened immune systems that would normally not bring about a disease. Not every person with HIV has it progress into AIDS, but for those who do, one is expected to live only for another three years, unless the person develops a dangerous opportunistic infection that can reduce their life expectancy even further (What is
HIV/AIDS?).
Scientists believe the HIV virus was transmitted to humans via chimpanzees infected with simian immunodeficiency virus, SIV. People hunted these infected chimpanzees and came into contact with their infected blood. Once inside a person, the SIV virus mutated into what is now known as HIV. Studies have revealed this virus mutating in humans and becoming its own pandemic beginning in the late eighteen hundreds (What is HIV/AIDS?).
HIV is spread through the “sharing” of particular bodily fluids. If an HIV-positive person’s blood, semen, breast milk, rectal fluids, or vaginal fluids come into contact with another person’s mucous membranes, damaged tissue, or direct bloodstream, HIV is transmitted. Mucous membranes are found in the mouth, rectum, vagina, and penis, which is why most people only think of the disease as a sexually transmitted disease. However, HIV is also commonly spread through the sharing of needles and syringes for drug users, the virus being able to live on a needle for up to forty-two days (How Do You Get HIV or AIDS?).