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How Would the Black Death Affect Us This Century?

The Black Death produced an epidemic beginning in the 14th century that killed over 75 million people, leaving a lasting impression on the history and culture of the European continent. This bacterium is still present in the world today, periodically causing outbreaks that cause illness and death if the symptoms are not treated immediately.

  1. Plague Facts

    • The illness that caused the Black Death, also known as plague or bubonic plague, is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium that thrives in fleas and rodents. Its most common vectors of transmission to humans are through the bites of an infected rodents or insects, or through coming in contact with the body fluids of an infected human or animal. A plague victim manifests flu-like symptoms three to seven days after being infected with the bacterium. These include fever, chills, body and head aches, nausea, vomiting and weakness.

    Causes for the Black Death

    • The bacterium responsible for plague has been traced to the Gobi Desert, where it was picked up by traders along the Far East's trade routes during the Middle Ages. Europe had recently experienced a massive influx of people to its urban areas, where people were living in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions. This allowed the bacteria to spread rapidly through the through the bites of fleas that infested the local rodents. The disease continued to spread due to a lack of understanding of medical sanitation methods such as hand washing and wound lancing, and the practice of quarantining infected people.

    Contemporary Plague Instances

    • The plague continues to infect people throughout the world, but in numbers of cases that in no way compare to the amount of people who suffered from its effects in Medieval Europe. A small outbreak in India occurred in 2004, where eight people were infected, three cases of which proved fatal. The World Health Organization reports anywhere between 1,000 and 3,000 cases of plague every year, with Russia, the Americas and Africa reporting the most cases.

    Plague in the 21st Century

    • The medical response to plague in this century differs highly from how it was addressed during the Middle Ages. Since it is a disease known to be fatal, when outbreaks are recognized, patients with the illness can be isolated and treated, which drastically reduces the disease's ability to balloon into an epidemic. While the conditions exist in different areas of the world today similar to those that caused the Black Death, the World Health Organization and national-level medical organizations like the Centers for Disease Control have developed coordinated response methods to limit the spread of highly dangerous infectious diseases like plague.

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