What effects did the plague have on the dying population?

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What Started the Torment?

         Rats! It all started with diseased rats. The rats got bitten by fleas, which then contracted the horrid disease. The plague traveled from Asia to Europe. The fleas would sometime bite humans, infecting them with the hopeless and cruel disease. None who got this plague recovered.

          The first signs of the Black Death were found on one’s armpits. Disgusting! Huge black welts would appear. At that point, a victim was expected to live for only 48 brief hours. Over 30% died from this terrible tragedy. Think about it! An estimated 75 million people! It’s just horrible in my opinion. All those people died from just one disease. One little disease that, now, we could probably have found a cure for.

          The Black Death spread life wild-fire, burning a path of destruction in its path. The Central Asaic Platue was even said to be “one big epidemic area”. Most tried to flea, but the plague was almost everywhere. Whole towns were abandoned. The Black Death even wiped out all of Iceland! Not just most, but all. Some families were lucky enough to escape this tragedy and continued on living. The plague did not spread through the air so some people remained safe.

How Did The Black Death Get Its Appalling Name?

     The Black Death got its name for several reasons. Black is often referred to as a color of misery and pain. With all the death going around, that is probably just how the people felt. So many people died, a lot were just thrown into one massive grave along with others that had died around the same time. Families and friends mourned the loss of the ones who they loved. Crime and confusion was becoming a frequent part of life with less and less people around to enforce the laws. I can't imagine what life would be like if that were to happen today.
     Another reason the epidemic was called the Black Death was one of the symptoms. one of the earliest sings that one has contracted the disease was when black dot would appear on the underarms. These were said to have been extremely painful. Later on, the black blotches would appear all over the victims body. The skin turned black because of damage to the skin tissue. Another reason is that the type of rats that spread this horrid disease were the, you guessed it, black rats.

Who To Blame...A Bacterial Disease or A Virus?

     The main theory of how the Black Death all started is that it was a bacterial disease. The bacteria is called Yersinia pestis.  It sounds like a pest to me! It is spread through direct contact. There are 3 different kinds of the plague that were caused by the Yersinia pestis. There is the Bubonic plague, the Septicemic  plague, and lastly, the Pneumonic plague. the most heard of being the Bubonic plague. Some scientists believe this was the cause of the Black Death, but others are not as convinced as they are.
     There are many theories as to what caused the epidemic. Some scientists say that the Black Death was caused by an Ebola-like virus. the Ebola virus effects the cells on the inside of people's blood vessels. Although a lot of the theories sound like they are spot on, they are just that. Theories. No one can say for sure what the cause of the outbreak was. All people know about the Black Death is that it is contagious, and through that, the plague has killed 35 million people in Europe alone. 75 million was around the total for the world-wide death count.

The Aftermath On the Population

     Before the plague, medieval Europe was very crowded. Crowded, but stable. Unfortunately, many went hungry, only getting enough to survive. Sometimes not even that. People didn't expect the plague to travel as quickly as it did. So many people would die that, at times, there was no one to take over the person's job after they past. Towns were being deserted and families were loosing their members. The plague was truly devastating for all that had had to live through the tragedy.

     The most demanded jobs were religious leaders, physicians, and gravediggers. A gravedigger was, before the Black Death, considered to be one of the lowest jobs one could have. 30-60% of the population were dying or already dead, so the job became more common. I still can't imagine anyone wanting to have that job. I don't think anyone did, but only took on the job because it needed to be done. Religious leaders became highly respected, more than they were before the devastation. physicians were the people the other people went to when they were infected. Sadly, they could do little for the victims. The Black Death took a toll on the population of medieval Europe, leaving millions of dead bodies in it's gruesome path.

Is There An Antidote to the Affliction?

Doctors could never cure the horrible plague. If only they had the medical resources we have today! The doctors weren’t even close! They believed that the cause of the plague was the position of the sun and the stars. They thought that the sun was doing something bad to the ocean. The stars were trying to protect the people. The sun was making the ocean make a sort of mist that would rise up.

          The “cure” the doctors came up with was to burn this mist with fire. This would make the mist into rain. The doctors thought that this rain would be harmful and could give someone the plague. The rain would fall until July 19^th. On that day the air would be pure and absolutely immaculate again.

          During the time until July 19^th, people wouldn’t even bathe! Gross! They also wouldn’t exercise. That’s way different from what doctors today would say to do! The doctors knew that there was no cure, but they had still hoped to prevent it. They couldn’t even treat the symptoms to ease the suffering of the victims. 75 million people suffered and then died during this epidemic.