Bubonic Plague Epidemic in Europe

Bubonic Plague

    The Bubonic Plague is a bacterial infection of the lymphatic system caused by Yesinia Pestis bacilli. It is characterized by high fever, chills, pain, extreme exhaustion and swollen lymph glands called buboes. There are three types of the plague; Bubonic, Systemic and Pneumonic. Bubonic Plague is transmitted through the bites of fleas who have fed on infected rodents and small mammals. Systemic plague occurs when symptoms are not caught immediately and left untreated; it spreads throughout the blood stream. Pneumonic Plague occurs when the bacteria invade the lungs and are accompanied by frothy bloody sputum. Pneumonic plague has the highest death rate with the shortest incubation time, usually between one and three days and can be spread person to person through airborne droplets during coughing or sneezing of an infected person. The death rate for someone infected with the Yesinia bacteria is about 1 in 7.

    In the 1330's in China's Gobi Desert, an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague emerged that would impact the course of history and decimate the world population. The Plague rapidly spread along the Silk Road and other trade routes first through China and into India, it then moved west into Egypt and Asia Minor into the Black Sea. In about 1345 C.E., a group of Italian merchants were expelled from their trading post in the Iranian city of Termeh and took refuge in Caffa on the Black Sea. The Italian Christian traders soon fell into conflict with Caffa's Muslim residents and war broke out between the two. The Muslims looked to their local Mongol prince for help in laying siege on the Italians within the city walls. About a year into the conflict, the Plague broke out within the Muslim army. The world was soon to witness the first example of germ warfare as one by one, the Mongol prince had the bodies of plague infected dead soldiers loaded into catapults and launched into the city. Within days the plague erupted and Caffa's citizens started to die. The Italian Merchants rapidly loaded their ships and fled Caffa sailing toward their Italy. Little did they know, amid their cargo were infected rats which had climbed up the mooring ropes and into the belly of the ship. By the time the merchant ships had reached Messina, half of the sailors were dead. The harbormaster tried to isolate and quarantine the ships, but the rats had made their way back down the mooring ropes and into the city of Sicily. This kicked off the greatest pandemic the world has seen. Between 1347 and 1351, over 20 MILLION people were dead.

    Cities in the middle ages were very unsanitary and had most people living in very close proximity to each other. Rats and other pests were in close contact with the human population. This allowed the disease to spread like wildfire. In the beginning of the epidemic, bodies of the dead were stripped of their clothes before burial. Fleas clung to the clothing which was either sold or passed on to family members or friends. This allowed the Plague to infect even more citizens. Eventually, there were so many bodies piling up in cities that people fled to the countryside and spread the disease there.

    Without knowledge of medical science, people assumed that the disease was divine punishment for sin. People turned to God and spiritual advisors. Pope Clement tried to prevent the spread of the Black Death by encouraging a new sect of religious belief in which its members were known as flagellants. Flagellation is a means of self punishment by whipping or flogging one's self. The belief was that by self imposed pain and suffering, you could appease God and he would lift his curse. There were some people that held the Jews responsible for the outbreak of the plague, blaming them for poisoning the drinking water. Thousands of Jews were slaughtered for this "crime". People were afraid, and rightly so. No one knew what caused the plague and there was no cure. To contract the plague was a death sentence.

    Around 542 C.E., an outbreak of the plague spread north from Egypt into Byzantium and killed about 25 Million people by the time it had run its course. Called the Plague of Justinian, it is thought that massive imports of grain into Constantinople from North Africa housed in huge granaries nurtured the rat and flea population. Procopius, a Byzantine historian reported that the plague was killing up to 10,000 people a day in the Capital city of the Holy Roman Empire. This was the first recorded plague pandemic. The second pandemic being the 14^th Century European plague discussed earlier in this paper. The third pandemic of Bubonic Plague surfaced in Burma in 1894 and rapidly spread to China, through Hong Kong and into North America. In 1907, 167 cases of the plague were identified and recorded. Today, cases of the plague are still reported to the CDC. About 10-20 people each year in the US contract the plague from culprits like ground squirrels, rats, prairie dogs and chipmunks. Most of these cases occur in the south western United States, mainly Arizona and New Mexico. The CDC website (CDC Plague)reports that "The last rat-borne epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25." The World Health Organization reports between 1,000 and 3,000 cases of Bubonic Plague globally each year. The majority of these cases are reported in Southeast Asia. Brazil also reports a high number of cases. In 1994, an eruption of the plague killed 56 people and incited widespread panic.

    Due to the advancement of modern medicine and our ability to identify and treat the Yesinia Pestis bacilli, it is highly unlikely that a massive plague pandemic will decimate global population as it has in the past. Bubonic plague can be treated and cured with antibodies such as streptomycin and gentamycin provided it is identified early enough. Although we probably will not battle this particular plague again, we are always on the verge of the next killer pandemic.