A brief History of The Plague
Could it hit again?
Early Medical Response
The medical establishm/span>
Much of medicine was dictated by the Church, which shunned anything involving technical
science and put a whole lot of emphasis on bleeding and prayer. The bleeding only helped
weaken a victim even further by causing a blood loss and iron deficiency. It also helped
spread the disease further with
exposure to body fluids.
Ironically, those who were around
horses regularly developed an
immunity to the Plague since they had
early exposure to variants of the
bacteria. Their immune systems had
already developed a response to the
infection, and many survived the major
Plague waves as a result. But no one
infection, and many survived the major
made the connection early on.
The general symptoms of the disease
were documented well enough given
how many people had them. This
include the swollen lymph nodes which
were also called buboes (ergo the
disease name of Bubonic Plague),
high fever and chills, headaches and
body soreness, and bleeding under the skin surface which when it got old turned black in
color.
The primary vector, as noted earlier, was through fleas biting their victims. The insects would
jump from a rodent to a living area looking for additional food. People fit the menu nicely. With
a sufficient bite the bacteria entered the body system. And rats were not alone in their
notoriety; squirrels and mice also transmitted the culprit fleas
a sufficient bite the bacteria entered the body system. And rats were not alone in their
along as well. Livestock and
people all fell sick quickly from the effects and exposure.
As the disease spread and mutated, a new version began to appear which was a death knell
for populated areas. The Plague began to mutate into a pneumonia-type infection, which
caused horrible coughing and sneezing attacks. This then made the Plague bacteria airborne
and easily spread in close contact.
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