...prevented, and interrupted many works of literature. The Black Death, a plague on humanity capable of wiping out one fourth of Europe’s one hundred million people in the course of five years, made its mark between the years 1347 and 1351 (Marks). During that time, three types of plague were to have know to exist: Bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic (Marks). Although bubonic variant of the plague took the most time to kill it was still the most deadly simply due to it being the most widespread of the three (Marks). The bubonic plague got its name from the numerous buboes or cancer like growths that would develop on the victim’s armpit and groin (Marks). Another symptom that accompanied the growths was the presence of a constant fever. The buboes were swelled lymph glands as a result of the body’s lymphatic system trying to fight the disease. Basically, they were pockets of the dead white blood cells that piled up from fighting the plague bacteria. A total lymphatic shutdown was imminent when the buboes appeared. Death came in three to five days of infection (Marks). The other two types of plague, septicemic and pneumonic, were much less widespread than bubonic but in most cases more deadly. Septicemic plague is an infection of the blood stream with the Pasteurella...
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...How the Black Death Affected the Modern World The Black Death is the worst plague that mankind has ever had to face, much worse than anything we face today. The mortality rate was astounding; whoever was unfortunate enough to become infected with the Black Death would die in a matter of days while suffering through a great deal of pain and agony (Snell). Its peak was around 1348-1353 in Europe, ranging from England all the way to Eastern Europe and beyond (The Black Death, 1348, 2001). The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia, before spreading west. The plague then travelled along the Silk Road and reached the Crimea by 1347. From there, it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population. All in all, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in the 14th century (Ibeji, 2011). The plague disease, generally thought to be caused by Yersinia pestis, is commonly present in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents, including marmots, in various areas including Central Asia, Kurdistan, Western Asia, Northern India and Uganda (Edmonds). Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe at the trading city of Caffa in the Crimea in 1347 (Whipps, 2008). After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol...
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...David Routt argues “The Black Death was the largest demographic disaster in European history”, and rightfully so. Since its arise in 1347, it had been responsible for the death of roughly 17-28 million people in Europe, which accounted for about half the European population. Due to the sudden deaths of many people, the economy was drastically affected, and gave rise to many changes in the years to come. The most important economic impacts of the Black Death include a decrease in trade and “dislocation of the demand for goods”., “a much smaller agricultural labor pool”, villages were de-urbanized, and inflation. A decrease in trade occurred due to Europe losing a vast number of its laboring force. This meant that farm labor was unavailable to plant and tend crops. Supply decreased, and prices for goods rose. Businessmen saw this and reshaped their businesses in order to meet the demands of potential customers. What worked in their favor was the increase of “the gross volume of luxury goods manufactured and sold”. Furthermore, due to the agricultural pool decreasing, “the rural worker indeed demanded and received higher payments in nominal wages”. Even though there were higher payments given, people were still intrigued by the plague and city dwellers moved to the country to avoid the disease. Many in the country moved to the cities in hopes of getting employment. The times were suitable for inflation and in many countries the governments stepped in to bring the economies back...
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...Impact of Black Death HIS 103 World Civilizations Donnie Burnette April 4th 2011 The Impact of Black Death Black Death was known by several names such as Black Death, the Bubonic Plague and the Black plague. Regardless of what you call it, it was one of the world’s worst pandemic in history. This plague tore through Europe destroying villages and communities. The immediate impact was fear, chaos, and complete devastation, the long term effect proved to improve economics and societies. Black Death spread through Europe beginning in 1346 and ending in 1353. Seven years of “unexplained” deaths, the plague chose no race, color, age or gender it attacked and killed 50 million people or 60% of the population (Benedictou 2005). Symptoms of the plague began with swollen glands in the neck, armpits, and groin areas. Internal bleeding gave the skin a blackened coloring earning the name “Black Death”. Other symptoms range from red blotching of the skin “rosies” Once bitten these would appear within a couple days and the victim would die within a week. Even a more powerful strain of this plague was the pneumonic plague; this version went directly to the lungs and respiratory systems. Now not only was this spread...
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...Global pandemics have helped shape history and the modern world. Without the diseases that cause pandemics nations and empires would not have been able to expand as far and wide as they did and they would not have grown in complexity and culture. The bubonic plague took the world to the Dark Ages, but also resulted in one of the greatest ages of enlightenment, the Renaissance. Beautiful works of art, literature, and philosophy were born from this. Somewhat sadly not all pandemics have resulted in ages of enlightenment. Often they come fast, kill even faster, and then are gone. One pandemic that still plagues the world today, with no end in sight, is AIDS. An incurable virus that became the center of attention in the 1980's. Bubonic plague and AIDS are very different in nature, but have resulted in many similar political, economic, and cultural impacts within human societies. The differences and similarities of these pandemics can help us understand pandemics better and also can help us to prepare for future pandemics. First we must look at the bubonic plague, how it spread and how it impacted the world socially, economically, and culturally. It was first recorded in Europe by a Sicilian chronicler by the name of Michele da Piazza in October of 1347, who recorded the port of Messina having twelve galleys full of sailors carrying the disease down to the marrow of their bones.1 Black Death began to really take its toll in 1348, spreading through Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland...
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...The Plague If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality. A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic effects of the plague in Europe were harmful to the population and economy. The Black Plague is an Oriental Plague marked by inflammatory boils and tumors of the glands. Such break outs were found in no other feverish disease. Inflammatory boils often appeared and black spots which indicated decomposition of the body ultimately appeared on the skin. Another symptom of the plague was openings with a discharge of offensive matter. Due to the significant pain and rapid spread of the plague medicine was ultimately never found, although attempted. People consumed in the plague died within three days of getting it. The plague began in 1333, fifteen years before it broke out in Europe. Many natural disasters were engulfing the Asian countries; floods, starvation, droughts, and the plague. A drought and food shortage had crucified the country which was started by floods of the Kiang and Hoai Rivers. After all of these disastrous events still an earthquake, continued floods, and food shortage ended in late 1300’s. Around 1339 in northwestern Europe...
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...archeologists, Bubonic plague may have originated from Egypt and not in Asia as originally thought. The disease is termed ‘Black Death’ and is said to have also begun in North Africa. Archeologists and fossil insect experts report that the disease may have distributed as a result of the flooding of River Nile that forced the rats to infest the human populated areas during the 3500 B.C. The causative agents of Bubonic Plague are known as Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) that are normally classified as Gram-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. The coccobacilli are either rod or oval shape, and they is short. The Y. pestis metabolism is fermentative just like the other enterobacteriaceae, and they produce a thick antiphagocytic capsule that prevents the white blood cells from the ability to ward off the Y. pestis infection. In this paper, the disease Bubonic Plague will be discussed in details, including its causes, and the place where the recent outbreak has occurred. Introduction Bubonic Plague is brought by the Yersinia pestis, which is a Gam-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacilli. As learned in classes, the coccobacilli are rod or oval in shape, and normally short in size. Just like other Enterobacteriaceae, the Yersinia pestis has a fermentative type of metabolism, and they produce antiphagocytic capsule, which prevents white blood cells from wedding off the Y. pestis infection. The Y. pestis is a causing agent to a number of diseases including bubonic, septicemic and...
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...Concerning the bubonic plague, it had two devastating outbursts in Europe, in 543 and in 1348 (Rosen, pp. 24). They are respectively called the Justinian plague (porter, pp. 32) and the Black Death (Rosen, pp. 24). The protection of the people against epidemic diseases was at the centre of attention, especially after the first outbreak. It disseminated all classes and caused terror among all. The death of infected people occurred rapidly. The disease attacked the lymphatic or/and the lungs. It passed through human by simple contact (Rosen, pp. 24). The same principle of isolation than with leprosis was applied at the first outbreak (Rosen, pp. 25). The procedure was that the infected person had to be reported, and then examine. If the person...
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...In the years 1346-53 an epidemic of the terrible bubonic plague, spread across Europe. This plague is more commonly recognized as the Black Death, a name that came several centuries after. In order to stop the spread of this devastating disease, it was necessary that the physicians and scientists of that day begin to research and understand certain things: where this disease came from and how it spread so fast among the population; the symptoms and stages that made this disease unique; and how it was impacting society. Research shows that one way this disease most likely evolved, was from the Central Asiatic Plateau, the stretch of dessert that touches Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Most researchers believe it came from rats,...
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...Sodder Children It is estimated that 356,00 people lose their homes to fires. The Sodder family was one of these people. On christmas eve of 1945 the Sodder house caught on fire and burned to ashes. Out of 10 children, only 5 survived the fire but the remains of the other 4 were never found. The mystery of the what happened to the Sodder family can be summed up in two theories: Teh Kids were taken by 4 adults that had no help and the kidnapper paid off the police and fire department to keep quiet. While the Sodders were only regular everyday people their disappearance has confused and bewildered people for over 50 years. While some people disagree on what really happened, Most can agree that around 1:00 am “Jennie was drifting back into sleep when she heard what sounded like an object landing on the roof and then rolling down along the side of the house” (The Sodder Children Mystery). A couple of minutes later Jennie woke up to the smell of smoke and started yelling for her husband to wake up ( Mystery of Missing Children). When George Sodder got up he went to get his ladder to save his kids but it wasn’t there, so when he went to go get his trucks to help neither would work (The Sodder Children Mystery). Even though only five of the 10 children got out of the house, no bones or body parts were found in the rubble (5 Missing Children). Some believe that the children just died in the fire, but most think something very different happened. One of the most popular theories is that...
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...Validation of the dried blood spots in monitoring toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa and it has a vast worldwide distribution. Cats are the definitive host of T. gondii, and all other hosts in which only asexual reproduction can occur are defined as intermediate hosts. Humans are known to be infected by many routes: a) Ingestion of Toxoplasma tissue cyst or pseudocysts with raw or partly cooked meat or during hand-to-mouth contact after handling undercooked meat and from using knives, cutting boards and utensils contaminated by raw meat. b) Ingestion of sporulated oocyst with unwashed fruits, vegetables and contaminated water (Coutinho et al., 1982) or through hand-to-mouth contact following gardening and cleaning a cat's litter box (Dubey, 1998). c) Despite, the worldwide progress in the food accessibility in the last decades, millions of people have diseases related to food consumption. Although Toxoplasma gondii is not a major food-borne pathogen, but it is crucial from the public health viewpoint (Batz et al., 2011). Also, despite the initial concern that T. gondii is related to dealing with cats and cat’s litter, fifty percent of toxoplasmosis cases are food-borne (Slifko et al., 2000; Scallanet al., 2011). The main routes for transmission of T. gondii to human are ingestion of the environmentally resistant sporulated oocysts, or eating raw or undercooked meat containing the cysts or pseudocysts (Dubey...
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...“I, Nathanael Paul Jackson, never in all my years believed I would see such an act of God’s anger against mankind as I did between the years of 1348 and 1349. No one knows the exact cause or even how the plague was spread. The air and waters were infected with some sort of pestilence, as if God, Himself did it. No one was immune from the plague. It did not discriminate, rich and poor alike; man, woman and child could become its next victim at any time. Within two to three days of showing signs of being infected with the disease, the person was dead. Swelling in the armpits and groin was a sure sign of death for that person… Everyone dealt differently with the disease. I was a twenty-seven year old common blacksmith’s assistant with a wife and child, living in Paris, France when this devastation arrived. When this punishment struck, but not before it took the life of our only child and we had to bury him with our own hands, we fled to the country to try and survive. Some people faced death gracefully because Pope Clement VI granted absolution from penalty to all who were dying. Therefore, some dying men were more willing to leave much of their wealth and possessions to the church either because of this forgiveness that was given, or due to the fact that their heirs were already dead. Others abandoned their families to try and save themselves. Laws were disregarded by others as they did what they pleased since there were no officers to enforce the law anymore… This disease...
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...Benedictow,O. J (2005) “The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe Ever”, History Today, Vol. 55, No. 3, Retrieved from: http://www.historytoday.com/ole-j-benedictow/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever In this article “The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe Ever” examines how the Black Death killed over 50 million people in the 14 century, or at least 60 percent of Europe’s entire population. This article refers to the Black Death as a disastrous mortal disease and how it’s spread in Europe around 1346-53 transformed and frightened society. The article explains that the Black Death was in fact an epidemic of bubonic plague. This is a disease that was caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis that circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density. The Black Death territorial spread changed and restructured Europe’s society by its rapid transportation; according to the article the disease moved an average of 600km in a fortnight by ship. I strongly believe this article will prove to be beneficial to the formation of my paper because it examines and explores key concerns in connection to the rapid spreading of the Black Death resulting in millions dying. This article provides information as to what exactly the Black Death was during this time, what resulted in Europe’s population being affected by it and how it was transported. This article will provide in detail information as to how this plague affected society and the length of time it took to...
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...Putting Out The Fire: 4 Ways To Remove Fire Ants From Your Yard Fire ants are a big problem in America, resulting in an estimated 5 million dollars worth of expenses each year. This frightening statistic is a somber reminder: it's important to get rid of these aggressive, invasive insects before they cause major damage. So if your yard is ablaze with fire ants, use one of the four methods below to douse the flames. 1. Poison Granules Place poison granules near fire ant mounds, and watch with satisfaction as the tireless worker ants carry the bait directly to their queen. After a day or two, the ants will start to die off. Be careful, however, to keep pets away from the poison granules during this time period. If your pet accidentally consumes poison granules, call your veterinarian immediately. 2. Liquid Bait Stations When you have pets or nearby wildlife that occupy your yard, it's a good idea to use liquid fire ant bait stations instead of poison granules. These compact bait containers feature tiny openings that allow ants to enter—but not small animals. Once inside the baits, the fire ants walk through a thick liquid poison that sticks to their bodies. Then, without hesitation, the foragers transfer the poison to the queen, killing the entire colony. 3. Boiling Water If you prefer note to use poison, skip the trip to the store, and warm up the tea kettle. Bring water to a rolling boil, and immediately pour it down the ant holes in your yard. Keep in mind that fire...
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...A fungal disease that is very lethal to bats was discovered in 2006. Since then, the mystery fungus has been given the name ‘white-nose syndrome’. Research has been ongoing for the past nine years, though one group of researchers at an institute in Rhode Island believe that they may be close to figuring out how the mystery fungus is killing so many bats. The Effects of White-Nose Syndrome This mystery fungus appears as a white substance on the noses and wings of bats for which it gains its name. The cold resistant fungal infection penetrates the tissue of the nasal cavity, the mouth, and the wings of the bat. This makes the bat unable to stay hydrated as well as compromising a steady core body temperature. This makes the bats weak and very susceptible to death. Anywhere from 5 million to 6 million bats have been killed by the fungus in 28 states and Canada from the time it was discovered. The Origins of This Mystery Fungus According to Richard Bennett (https://vivo.brown.edu/display/rbennett), a professor and the lead of the team at Brown University, “this is perhaps the biggest decline in wildlife from an infectious agent in the past century.” He believes that this has spread from Europe where bats have already developed an immunity from the fungus. However, being introduced into a new population of bats, it can and has thrived on the inability to resist it. It has spread all across North America, and continues to be a problem. Actions Taken for the Bats Bennett and his team...
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