Disease In The Elizabethan Era Essay

Disease during the Elizabethan time Era had a major impact on people and their lives.
In that era there were tremendously terrible diseases such as the Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, and Typhoid that killed almost around the third of the population. From a disease standpoint that was arguably the worst time in history because of all of the illnesses being spread around. There was no type of cure for most of the diseases so some people had to suffer. If they were lucky then they survived but struggled to live. Tragically, Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan era, so he was open to get anything. It isn't a shock that Bubonic Plague was one of the most dreaded diseases of that time. It was carried by a bunch of fleas that lived in the fur of rats swept through the streets of London and other places close by. Victims of it would have been sealed inside their homes. Those houses would then have to bolted from the outside. The victims and anyone else that entered the house were not allowed to leave it. …show more content…
It ravaged through the streets of London. There are three types of Typhus, louse borne typhus, Murine Typhus, and Scrub Typhus. “It would take just one minor cut or sore for the typhus infected feces to enter the victim’s bloodstream, and soon high fever, delirium, and gangrenous sores would develop.” (Mabillard pg 1) Each different type is spread by bad hygiene, rats and fleas, or mites. Typhus happened to be a major problem among prisoners. Most of the people in jail would die before they served their full sentences. Symptoms include headache, fever, rash, chills, hacking, vomiting, confusion, cough, abdominal pain and more. Treatment for it include antibiotics such as Doxycycline, Tetracycline, and Chloramphenicol. Of course this was the 1600s so getting antibiotics was not really an option. “For prevention avoid areas where they might encounter rat fleas or lice.” (The New York Times Company pg