Plague.us Contagious Diseases 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. Previous - the Middle Ages Next -  The Plague in Modern Times
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