The Epidemic Of The Plague During The Middle Ages

Improved Essays
In addition the plague created an increase in the need for higher education and placing a higher importance on how medicine and physical science work together (Edmonds, 2008). The start of medicine can be contributed to epidemic of the plague because during the Middle Ages the focus was more on practical actions, but following the outbreak the creation of “medicine as a science” (Damen, 2015) came into effect in the West. One can only say that Western medicine came about due to the disturbing effects of the plague. Utilizing higher education allowed for people such as Edward Jenner to create the first vaccine in 1796 (Stern, 2005). Today it takes years of schooling to become a doctor and this is because as time as evolved more requirements …show more content…
Their way of aroma therapy was carrying herb packets or fresh flowers on them. Today we still use aromatherapy, but we use it through oils, candles, and soaps. The rotten treacle they thought had to be at least 10 years old to work and was a thick, smelly ingredient that was assumed to purge the body of diseases. The horrible smell of the sewer was rumored to prevent the diseased air from coming in contact with the atrocious stench of the sewer. However, many died not only of the plague, but also other illnesses. Leeches were utilized for bloodletting if you could afford them, if not then they resorted to cutting the skin to allow it to bleed (Shariff, 2013). Today leeches are still used in medicine. Imagine swallowing broken glass; that is what it was like when they thought that swallowing crushed emeralds (precious stones) would help rid them of the disease. Probably the two most disgusting cures they thought would work are the bathing in urine to alleviate the symptoms of the disease and applying a paste made up of poop, flower roots, and tree resins into the open sores (Shariff, 2013). According to the Journal of Nephrology, urine is still used today for infections (viral or bacterial), to condense tumors, wound washing, and eye, ear, and nose drops (Horl, …show more content…
In 2012 a 7 year old girl was having seizures, a temperature of 107, swollen lymph nodes, tachycardia, and hypotension. Thanks to the doctors at Rocky Mountain Hospital in Colorado she is alive today after being diagnosed with the bubonic plague and treated with antibiotics (CBS, 2013). Early interventions and treatment with antibiotics is what allows us to survive being infected with the plague. However there is the chance that we can still die from it, just like the 16 year old in Colorado who died in 2015 from contracting the septicemia form of the plague (Pohl, 2015). Aside from using antibiotics as a cure for this disease the CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report says there is a vaccine available that was created in the late 19th century. The vaccine though is only offered to those who work with the bacteria such as laboratory personnel, those that are working on experiments with it, or people are doing field work where averting contact with bacteria is impossible, such as those who are working in disaster zones. My personal opinion is that since we know this bacteria can have deadly consequences, why do we not offer it to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The word “pandemic” can be defined as a disease that takes over a whole country or even the world. The Black Death was exactly that, one of the most shocking and serious pandemics that took over Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, reached Europe in the late 1340s and killed around 25 million people there; altogether, it eventually killed an estimated 75 million people worldwide. The Black Death originated in China in the 1330s. China was a very popular nation for trade at the time, which led to a quick spread of this disease.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Black Death Facts

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Black Death -The bacterial disease that atrophied Europe between 1347-1351, taking an equitably greater amount of life than any other known epidemic or war up to that point. The Black Death is broadly thought to have been the result of infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. 5 Facts: • Many doctors believed that bad smells could force out the plague. Therefore, treatments for the disease included applying feces and urine, and other substances that were much more likely to spread disease than to cure it. • Y. Pestis utilized the flea by blocking its digestive tract.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Plague DBQ

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages

    During the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries the spread of the plague struck society with a variety of responses throughout Europe. First, fear caused the fabric of society to crumble apart with the upper, middle, and lower classes to leave behind their regular activities and the rich to flee towards safety. Second, people of all classes began moving toward religion and the church as salvation from the plague. Third, theologians and physicians strived to find the causes of this wretched disease and to use their knowledge to treat others around them. But just as any other outbreak in the land the first instinct is to fear for the worst.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Plague Dbq Essay

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Bubonic Plague was one of the single most devastating events of the medieval era. The Plague, also called "Black Death" is suspected to have originated in China and the far east, coming to Europe during the late 1340 's and early 1350 's by way of shipping and trade routes. By the time the plague had abated, almost half of Europe 's population had been killed by this deadly disease. The results of the plague was extremely damaging not just to the population of Europe, but to the basis of society itself. The Plague had such a devastating effect on European society because the moral code of the populations dissolved, the emphasis and practice of religious faith declined, and the value and importance of traditional relationships decreased.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    How did the plague change medieval European society? Were the effects positive or negative? Eleni Petrakis In 1347, a plague of epic proportions attacked Medieval Europe and Asia, killing millions. This plague, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis carried on fleas and rats, was called the Black Death, and greatly contributed to the development of Europe.…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bubonic Plague Dbq

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Middle Ages, a time period in Europe where the thriving society after the Roman Empire declined, and the population was affected by many of the ongoing conflicts. The time of the Middle Ages lasted from 500-1500 CE. Around 1339 in northwestern Europe, the population was beginning to outgrow the food supply and relentless economic crisis began to take place. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were dry. Due to this extreme weather, very few crops made it past harvest and those that grew were dying.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Essay On 1348 Plague

    • 2850 Words
    • 12 Pages

    By January 1348, the plague was in Marseilles. It reached Paris in the spring, 1348 and England in September, 1348. Moving along the Rhine trade routes, the plague reached Germany in 1348, and the Low Countries the same year. Historians agree that 1348 was the worst of the plague years. In May, 1349, an English wool ship brought the plague to Norway.…

    • 2850 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Black Death was a very painful disease, as if you contracted the plague you would have symptoms such as black buboes (Buboes are painful masses that appear in the groin and armpits) which would have continued for approximately a week. There was always a tiny chance of living if the buboes did burst. What caused the “Black Death?” Stuart doctors said that dogs and cats, pigs, pet rabbits and pigeons could spread the plague.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Black Death led medieval European doctors to make advancements in medicine in order to save their patients lives. Doctors had never seen anything like the Bubonic plague before, so when it first arrived in Europe they had no idea how to treat it. This led to doctors searching for new ways to treat their suffering patients. For example, in the book Life During the Black Death, John M. Dunn explains how medieval thinkers believed that in order to treat the plague they needed to restore equilibrium throughout the body. An example of this method of treatment would be feeding a patient cold food in order to bring down their fever (58).…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This pandemic was believed to be caused by a plague, caused by an infection that is directly linked to diseases in humans. This plague killed more people during its time period than any other disease up to its date. The Black Death is believed to have originated in the Chinese areas, and also believed to have been a viral disease. Rodents such as rats, mice, and even dogs could have been the early spreaders of the Black Death. It was anything that could transport fleas that would have been infected.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The plague of 1348 also known as the “Black Death”, was an epidemic that changed the world. It got its name from the black spots it would give people. The Black Death was the most devastating pandemic in all of human history killing millions, but it wasn't the deadliest of all plagues. What made it so lethal was how easily it was transmitted by fleas and threw airborne droplets of saliva from coughs of the infected(“Social and Economics Effects of the Plague.”). The plague affected manly countries in europe and asia.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The land of Europe in the 1300s was the “Land of Dark-ness.” The Black Death infected thousands but massacred mil-lions and people died a slow death. Nobody knew at the time what killed people, most thought it was God punishing the liv-ing. The disease spread throughout the world causing mass cha-os. The disease was on a killing spree unstoppable terrorizing the world.…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Bubonic Plague

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today’s modern technology in medicine has an upper hand over the medicine back in the gruesome times during the existence of the Bubonic Plague. What is a disease? A disease is well known to be detrimental to your health and deadly. A disease like the Bubonic Plague can wipe out a portion of a society. People during this grotesque disease tried to eat nutritional food and to stay hygienic to prevent getting the plague.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The plague “How and why did the plague occur in Medieval Europe occur?” The first account of the description of the plague was from Messina. In early October 1347 twelve Genoese Gallery entered Messina Harbour.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Black Death The Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death, was the most devastating pandemic in human history. The disease is thought to have originated in China, where during the 14th century it killed half of the population, while in Europe it killed a third of the population. In fact, it took Europe 150 years to recover from such a high mortality (Wein p1). The cause of the disease is a bacillus, Yesinia pestis, which infects the rodent’s bloodstream, and after death, passes on to its next target, either rodent or human. There are two types of the illnesses, bubonic and pneumonic.…

    • 2118 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays