The Black Death Epidemic Analysis

The Black Death was one of the few epidemics that greatly affected demographic catastrophes. Researchers noticed that the 11th-14th centuries were distressful times with this assassinating disease that had spread throughout many continents around the world by the lives of the people, population and societal developments. The Black Death is known by many names such as “the blue sickness,” la pest, “the great mortality or it’s scientific name Yersinia pestis (Benedictow, 2013). The Yersinia pestis is an anaerobic bacteria in, which, humans can be infected by rat, flea or both. It has three main known forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic plagues. All three of these forms of Yersinia pestis are considered to be extremely deadly and dangerous.
A researcher named Benedictow (2013) has speculated over the years that the origins of these diseases came from Asia, more importantly China.
In the first few pages of this disease analysis, I will explain the bacteria itself and how people may be infected by it. I will furthermore, discuss the common symptoms once the victim has been infected and what treatment may be given to ease the suffering. Next, I will explain the origins of this bacteria, the rumors of its false origins, and how it had the ability to travel from Asia to Europe. I will then exemplify how this bacteria has made such an impact throughout many countries such as Mongolia, Russia, India and England. These countries have evidence against these disease throughout literature, the church, and cadavers. Then, I will look further into the impacts of the economy and diverse cultures of England, which is most written and well-researched country about the Black Death. Finally, I will discuss the mortality rates of the victims in England who were affected by this disease through age, gender and location. These three factors leading up to why the people in England were the most affected by the Black
Death.

The Yersinia pestis is a facultative anaerobic bacteria that can infect mammals via rat, flea or both. Early researchers couldn’t figure out a way to look closely at the bacteria without exposing the contagion outside of the body, which would infect the researcher. This type of bacteria is easily evolving as the disease soon reaches it’s impending end. Yersinia pestis had evolved from rat and fleas to be an airborne infection (Savage and others, 1990). In the 1900s, it was discovered by William G. Savage that the bacteria was embedded in the bubo, a swollen or inflames lymph node in the underarm or groin region. This bacteria can be removed by using a needle with a hypodermic syringe. Yersinia pestis grows tremendously well in a 37 degree Celsius environment in an agar culture petri dish. The bacteria’s results were documented every 12 hours on the growth of the bacteria, which allowed Savage to expose the knowledge of the plague that strained many centuries. The transmission of disease to humans is by bites from infected fleas who've come across infected rats. This kind of transmission is the most common way today. However, due to the lack of sanitation and health violations in the early 11th-14th centuries transmission may occur by flea, rat or both (BMJ, 1900). Most people back in the day were mostly on the lower end of the socioeconomic class, which meant that they mostly were farmers or servants. Another method of transmission is by handling tissue or blood from an infected animal (BMJ, 1900). The final way of transmission is by infectious airborne or droplets. This transmission could be by simply coughing with particulates from the lungs. This was why in Europe, the transmission was so rapid to the lower socioeconomic class compared to the aristocracies. The spread of the disease was so easy that he or she may simply just inhale and there would be chance of infection. Many of the royals were in solitary confinement when there was an outbreak of the Black Death.  Yersinia pestis is the source of these three strains of the plague: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic. Each of these three strains concentrates on a component of a human where most of the symptoms take place, which makes it easier to detect which form of strain the victim may have. Bubonic focuses on lymph nodes, septicemic focuses on blood vessels and pneumonic focuses on the lungs (Benedictow, 2013). The most common and most profound symptom of the plague is blackness in any of the three strains. Other symptoms that all three of the strains occurs are fever, headache, chills, weakness and pain (Savage and others, 1990). While each of the three strains focuses on a particular attribute of the human body, the plague that this analysis will focus on is the bubonic plague. The bacteria will multiply, thus, inflaming the lymph node to other regions within the body. The most noticeable lymph node would be where the flea transmitted the disease. In the 11th-14th century, treatment for the plague was non-existent. Hence, the name the Black Plague because it was known that the infected person would soon see his or hers own death very soon. The average length of the disease was 2 weeks, which didn’t give much time for scientists to search for a cure (BMJ, 1900). However, in the 1900s, Dr. Bulstrode claims to have cured a man of the plague on voyage from India to England. The man contacted the plague less than 24 hours before showing any symptoms and was immediately sent to the ship’s surgeon. Dr Bulstrode then conducted surgery on the man by cryotherapy and amputated the leg of the man to stop the infection from growing any further (BMJ, 1900). Luckily, nowadays physicians use very strong antibiotics such as streptomycin, chlora mphenicol, tetracycline, and fluoroquinolone. With the help of oxygen, intravenous fluids, and respiratory support to make the victim’s hospital visit a speedy recovery. Now knowing the bacteria, it’s symptoms, and treatments the origins of the plague will shared. The origins of the plague is unknown and many researchers have developed research for possible sources.
The root of the bacteria is speculated to be from the China due to a collection of recovered Chinese documents and medical works. The theory that makes the most logical provenance is Mongolia. It is quite close to China, which would make it a perfect miscalculation and error. The evidence that is Mongolia is documents from Zheng He, a Chinese mariner, who encounters the disease while exploring for possible trade routes (Benedictow, 2013). This possible trade route is later known as the Silk Road. Zheng He describes the disease as black protruding boils coming off of the body (Benedictow, 2013). China doesn’t report any disease that is relatively close to the plague until after the disease has traveled to India. This takes China out of the possible sources for Yersinia pestis. It is also thought that Russia, or the former Soviet Union could also be a possible source. It is assumed by Benedictow (2013) that the rats that were infected by Yersinia pestis originated from eastern Russia. The rats had travel from Russia and came in contact with the disease in the Mongolia region. This theory is supported by medical texts recovered in Manchuria, which is very near to Mongolia. The time delimitation allowed the origins of the disease to be removed from possible sources. Although, cultural research and science have been used to crack the true origins of the plague, it is still
unknown where it truly began. There isn’t enough historical studies or sources to clearly indicate the origins. However, the source of how the Yersinia pestis infested rats traveled was discovered. The Silk Road was the main source for the rats to travel across from East Asia to Europe.