There are many thoughts on how the Bubonic Plague was spread. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, occurred during the fourteenth century. The bubonic plague originated in China in 1334 and made its way to Britain by 1348. The bubonic plague was an infection of the lymph nodes in the whole body of the person who was sick. At the time of the plague, no one knew what it was or how it was being spread. “Patients develop sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes (called buboes)” (CDC-Symptoms). The bubonic plague is also known as a killer because of how many people the disease was able to kill in such a short time through fleas that were on rats. The bubonic plague killed over twenty-five million people in China and Europe. The bubonic plague got its name from the purplish-black spots that it left on its victims. The purplish-black spots are called buboes. As the plague ravaged through Europe and Asia, many were sick and many more died. In some cities forty to sixty percent of the population was wiped out from the bubonic plague. In the fourteenth century many citizens believed that the plague was the result of an angry God or some dark and evil curse on their towns. Because the bubonic plague moved so fast and was so harsh, the street of every town was left lined with the corpses of the deceased. The bubonic plague killed by suffocating the person who was sick with an infection in their lungs.
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As the disease progressed and spread from the fleas on the infected rats, it transformed into the pneumonic plague which is an infection of the lungs. This is when the plague went from only being spread from the fleas to being airborne from whoever was sick. “Pneumonic plague is spread from person-to-person. When a person with the plague coughs, tiny droplets carrying the bacteria move through the air… An epidemic can be started this way,” (Vyas) and it was. The bubonic plague “Could also be spread by contact with contaminated fluid or tissue from a plague infected animal” (CDC-Transmission). There were many different causes for the spread of the bubonic plague. The main cause was the Silk Road that ran from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was not only a route for trading goods and religions; it was an open door for disease to spread rapidly across a large area. There were many items that were available from many different merchants. As told by Marco Polo, the merchants were very wealthy: The document aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, were so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof. And I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. (Polo) Even if the merchants did not do any work, they came in contact with the payment for the goods, thus spreading the plague farther and faster. The bubonic plague spread along the great trade routes to Constantinople and then to Europe, where it claimed an estimated 60% of the European population (Benedictow). Entire towns were wiped out. Some contemporary historians report that on occasion, there were not enough survivors remaining to bury the dead (Gross). Despite the vast devastation caused by this pandemic, massive labor shortages due to high mortality rates sped up the development of many economic, social, and technical modernizations (Benedictow). It has even been considered a factor in the emergence of the Renaissance in the late 14th century. Religious events and political events also helped aid in the spread of the bubonic plague. Large gatherings for religious events made a perfect place for the spread of the plague. Someone there to pray for a loved one who is sick with the plague now exposes everyone else there to
As the disease progressed and spread from the fleas on the infected rats, it transformed into the pneumonic plague which is an infection of the lungs. This is when the plague went from only being spread from the fleas to being airborne from whoever was sick. “Pneumonic plague is spread from person-to-person. When a person with the plague coughs, tiny droplets carrying the bacteria move through the air… An epidemic can be started this way,” (Vyas) and it was. The bubonic plague “Could also be spread by contact with contaminated fluid or tissue from a plague infected animal” (CDC-Transmission). There were many different causes for the spread of the bubonic plague. The main cause was the Silk Road that ran from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was not only a route for trading goods and religions; it was an open door for disease to spread rapidly across a large area. There were many items that were available from many different merchants. As told by Marco Polo, the merchants were very wealthy: The document aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, were so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof. And I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. (Polo) Even if the merchants did not do any work, they came in contact with the payment for the goods, thus spreading the plague farther and faster. The bubonic plague spread along the great trade routes to Constantinople and then to Europe, where it claimed an estimated 60% of the European population (Benedictow). Entire towns were wiped out. Some contemporary historians report that on occasion, there were not enough survivors remaining to bury the dead (Gross). Despite the vast devastation caused by this pandemic, massive labor shortages due to high mortality rates sped up the development of many economic, social, and technical modernizations (Benedictow). It has even been considered a factor in the emergence of the Renaissance in the late 14th century. Religious events and political events also helped aid in the spread of the bubonic plague. Large gatherings for religious events made a perfect place for the spread of the plague. Someone there to pray for a loved one who is sick with the plague now exposes everyone else there to