Bubonic Plague In The Middle Ages

The Bubonic Plague in the Middle Ages About the worst disease in world history, the bubonic plague killed millions of people and wrecked countless other lives in Europe during the Middle Ages. It destroyed multiple societies and civilizations, causing people to flee from their homes and look at the world differently than they ever had before. The disease baffled doctors and citizens alike. Only now do researchers know what factors likely caused the disease. The bubonic plague had many different causes and treatment, had a major impact on Medieval society, and is very commonly confused with the Black Death. The exact start of the bubonic plague is unclear, but it likely started in Asia and traveled westward along the Silk Road (Nelson). The …show more content…
During the outbreak in the middle ages, doctors were completely unable to contain or treat the disease (“Black”). They tried lancing the buboes, which entailed cutting open the swellings that occurred an allowing the contents to flow from the body. People also turned to cutting the veins that led to the heart to allow the disease to leave the body or letting leeches suck the blood (Trueman). Aromatherapy was also used. People were told to carry around sweet smelling flowers with them (Shariff). They should not eat foods that smelled bad such as cheese, meat, and fish. Instead, they were urged to eat bread, fruit, and vegetables (Trueman). There were also some more unique methods of trying to treat the disease. People were told to either eat or drink crushed emeralds. The emeralds texture closely resembles the texture of ground up glass, making this method extremely painful (Shariff). It was also recommended that the infected person should drink a cup of his or her own urine twice a day. After the disease took hold, sanitation became a crucial part of the process to help rid the cities of the Plague. The streets were cleaned of all human and animal waste and carcasses and taken outside of the city. There, the bodies were burned, including any of the victim’s personal items …show more content…
In 1984, Graham Twigg suggested that the bubonic plague was carried by rats and that the Black Death was in fact a form of Anthrax. Other historians have suggested that it was a kind of Ebola virus. In 1986, astronomer Fred Hoyle suggested that the Black Death was actually a result of dust from outer space. In 2010, DNA studies of mass graves of victims showed that the Black Death virus was actually a strain of the bubonic plague. The main difference between the Plague and the Black Death is that animals do not die from the bubonic plague and they do from the Black Death (“Black