Black Death | Definition, Cause, Symptoms, Effects, Death Toll, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

Black Death | Definition, Cause, Symptoms, Effects, Death Toll, & Facts? ›

Definition. The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352. The Black Death killed an estimated 25-30 million people. The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders.

Bubonic plague causes fever, fatigue, shivering, vomiting, headaches, giddiness, intolerance to light, pain in the back and limbs, sleeplessness, apathy, and delirium. It also causes buboes: one or more of the lymph nodes become tender and swollen, usually in the groin or armpits.

Bubonic plague is an infection spread mostly to humans by infected fleas that travel on rodents. Called the Black Death, it killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages.

Symptoms of the Black Plague

Blood and pus seeped out of these strange swellings, which were followed by a host of other unpleasant symptoms—fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, terrible aches and pains—and then, in short order, death. The Bubonic Plague attacks the lymphatic system, causing swelling in the lymph nodes.

The Black Death is believed to have been the result of plague caused by infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

The unceasing flow of sea, river, and road traffic between commercial centers spread the plague across huge distances in what is known as a “metastatic leap.” Big commercial cities were infected first, and from there the plague radiated to nearby towns and villages, from where it would spread into the countryside.

Messina in Sicily the Great Pestilence (or Black Death as it was named in 1823 because of the black blotches caused by subcutaneous haemor- rhages that appeared on the skin of victims) was recognised as a directly infectious disease.

The Black Death is widely believed to have been the result of plague that was caused by infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Most scientists think that this bacterium was first passed from infected rodents to humans through the bite of fleas. Then it spread quickly from one person to another.

Black Death survivors gave descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost A study shows that survivors of the bubonic plague, which lasted from 1346 to 1353, may have passed on the ability to survive other pandemics.

Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague included painful and enlarged or swollen lymph nodes, headaches, chills, fatigue, vomiting, and fevers, and within 3 to 5 days, 80% of the victims would be dead. Historians estimate that it reduced the total world population from 475 million to between 350 and 375 million.

Does the Black Plague still exist? ›

Bubonic plague is still found in scattered locations around the world, but thanks to modern antibiotics it is far easier to treat than in the past. Yet, the disease may still have left its mark on humankind. Under the microscope, Yersinia pestis doesn't look particularly special.

There are three types of plague. Which type you have depends on where in your body Y. pestis ends up. Bubonic plague infects your lymph nodes, septicemic plague is in your blood and pneumonic plague affects your lungs.

The model outcomes therefore suggest the spread of the plague back then was mainly attributable to human fleas and body lice, according to the study published Monday. “Our results support that human ectoparasites were primary vectors for plague during the Second Pandemic, including the Black Death,” the authors write.

Some believed it was a punishment from God, some believed that foreigners or those who followed a different religion had poisoned the wells, some thought that bad air was responsible, some thought the position of the planets had caused the plague.

What caused the plague? Today, scientists recognize that the Black Death, now known as the plague, is spread by bacteria called Yersina pestis. They know that the bacteria travel from person to person through the air, in addition to via the bite of disease-ridden fleas and rats.