Bubonic Plague In The Elizabethan Era

The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis, ravaged the population of Europe in the middle ages. “Localized epidemics of bubonic plague occurred with relative frequency, but only twice did the plague affect a wide enough swath of the population to be labeled a pandemic, or widespread epidemic” (The Black Death Arrives). When it did, over half the population of Europe died from exposure to the plague. Europe was densely populated and living conditions were terrible, making it easier for disease to spread from person to person and household to household. “In the places where it struck, the plague left thoughtful people grasping for language with which to describe a horror of such unprecedented …show more content…
“The disease […] was usually passed on through flea bites or through infected droplets coughed up by plague victims” (Black Death). The main carriers of the Black Death were fleas that traveled on the back of rats that traveled over on trading vessels returning from Asia where the disease had started. Rats were common aboard ships and in households due to terrible conditions and crowded living space so they were in constant contact with the people of Europe. However, in the Elizabethan Era of England, outbreaks were not confined to highly urbanized cities like London (The Black Death & Bubonic Plague). There are actually three types of this plague, each with varying effects on the body. The most common form of the plague is called the bubonic plague. “The bacterium is a mutated form, which targets the body's immune system, allowing deadly bacteria to multiply easily” (Black Death). The bubonic plague is named after the swollen lymph nodes across the neck, armpit, or groin area called buboes. This type is most often associated with the black death because of the discoloration of the skin around erupted buboes. This was the plague that was seen in the dark ages of Europe (Black …show more content…
Experts are skeptical that the plague would make a good bioterror agent. […] One to six days after becoming infected with the bacteria, people would develop pneumonic plague. […] Because of the delay between being exposed […] and becoming sick, people could travel over a large area before becoming contagious and possibly infecting others (Plague occurs in U.S.).
This would make it more difficult to contain the disease after infection because it is very contagions and the carriers would infect everyone they came into contact with. Because the aerosol form of the plague is pneumonic plague, the type of plague that transfers through the air, it would be more infectious and make the disease harder to contain (Plague occurs in