The Plague Essay

“The Plague is an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas” ("The Definition of Plague"). The Plague, which today is a disease barely heard of, was at one point in history an epidemic that killed almost one-third of Europe’s population, had unique symptoms, and spread very quickly. Today, people hear about receiving a cold or the flu. Usually these are treatable with an over-the-counter medication or by running its course. In most cases, people didn’t die, but when people got The Plague, they died. The Plague was also known as the Black Death. It got that nickname because of all the deaths that it caused …show more content…
They did this by completely isolating themselves from everybody else. They had no one that was sick in their home and they wouldn’t let anyone in or near their home. Other people thought that there was a cure for the plague. They thought being happy and going around singing and drinking would cure the plague. They thought doing that would keep them safe from it. Another small group of people thought the only way to avoid The Plague was to move. They abandoned their cities and all of their belongings and moved close to Florence (Boccaccio et. al). With people abandoning their city and other people locking themselves into their home, it left people without any care. Most of these people were already sick or got sick; therefore, they were abandoned by almost everyone. They also didn’t stand a chance at …show more content…
The bubonic plague was a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density (Benedictow). The bubonic variant was the one that caused the lumps in the groin or armpits. Most people usually died from this within a week but very few survived. Fleas that were infected would attach themselves to rats. Then it passed to humans through the bites from the rats and fleas, which is how this disease spread quickly (“Black Death”). The rats were also called ‘house rat’ so they lived close to people. That made it very easy for people to get the bubonic plague and is another reason it was so dangerous.
The pneumonic plague was also going around in Europe. This was the airborne disease. It attacked the respiratory system. It was spread quickly by coughing and breathing in infected air. People usually only lived a few days after getting the pneumonic plague (Boccaccio et. al). The Plague spread faster and easier on ships because it was a smaller area.The pneumonic plague is harder to spread when people do not have to be confined to one area. That is why more people were infected with the bubonic plague rather than the pneumonic