On the Eve of October 2 nd , 1980, a woman aged 47 lost her cat to an acute infection. The woman’s temperatures shot up three days later. The fever got worse and she started experiencing shortage of breath after reporting to her usual work place. After two days, she decided to visit a hospital and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was issued drugs and passed on shortly afterwards. People tend to believe that plagues are confined securely to the past but that is not usually the case. The phrase “plague” might be viewed as a malodorous of medieval mystery and biblical retribution but the diseases of these eras have not been consigned to history. In fact, this plague has been making comebacks since the early 1990s (FILIP, 2014) . Over the past twenty years, close to fifty thousand people have died as a result of contracting these re-emerging diseases according to a research done by the World Health Organisation.
The Black Death plague was one of the most overwhelming pandemics in history, succumbing to the death of close to two hundred million people from 1331 to 1353. The migration of this plague followed the trading and sea routes of the medieval world. The plague is caused by Yersinia pestis , a rodent that is most commonly present in Central Asia among the ground rodents which is said to have originated from China. The Yersinia pestis normally infects its flea through blocking its stomach. This makes the flea unable to feed resulting into regurgitation of bacilli into its host. When this host passes on, the flea must identify a new host to infest together with its offspring, infesting humans in the process. The Yersinia Pestis normally causes three plague types. This are: Pneumonic plague, Bubonic plague and the septicemic plague.
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In 1334, the black plague hit the Chinese province of Hubei. This plague saw around thirty thousand people quarantined in China after the outbreak of the Bubonic plague. The disease was discovered after one of the Chinese citizens was infected with the disease. The man died on the spot after coming into contact with a Marmot which he had chopped off ready to feed it to his dog. This disease killed almost a third of china’s population. A victim would first experience flu-like symptoms, followed by swellings beneath the groins and armpits. This plague hit the people fast and hard. People would lay ill for a day or two then die suddenly (Anandavalli, 2007) .
In 1994, India was stuck by an outbreak of the Pneumonic and Bubonic plagues which began on the south-western parts and south-central parts, then later spread to other parts. Close to seven hundred people were reported to have contracted the disease with fifty-six death reports being recorded from the infected Indian states. Contrary to most people beliefs, this plague was not spread by rats. It was instead spread by fleas which had infested the rats, indicating that the rats were the first casualties of the plague.
Trade was to blame for the first spread of this plague making it hard to treat the infected. The growth and stability of Europe made possible for extensive trade between the west and east and within Europe in the middle ages. Most historians today can bear witness that the plague was spread through Eurasia to most parts of China and India on the backs of rodents on these routes.
Although it was difficult to control the spread of this plague or even to cure it, some measures were put in place to at least protect some citizens from contracting the disease. This included quarantining the already infected persons, the use of insect repellent chemicals which were to be applied on the skin and clothes, especially on pant cuffs and socks as well as wearing long pants and tucking them into boots or socks.
The good news is, the Black Death’s chain can be easily altered nowadays. New treatment methods have come up and those who come into contact with ailing patients have protective gears such as surgical masks and gloves already made for them. There are also isolated hospital chambers for patients suffering from these plagues and specialised doctors who know which medication is required, at what time and in what quantities.
References
Anandavalli, L. (2007). The black death in medieval india: a historical mystery. Medievalists.net , 1.
FILIP, I. (2014). Avoiding the black plague today. Health , 1.
