 One of the most devastating pandemics in human history  75 to 200 million deaths; almost 1/3 of the continents population  Peaking in Europe during

 Arrived October 1438 by sea  12 Genoese ships traveled through the Black Sea back from Central Asia  Docked at the Sicilian port, Messina  Most sailors were dead or gravely ill

 Cause was the bacteria, yersina pestis  Originated from rats; rats developed an immunity but not the fleas  Yersina pestis produces a toxin that blocks the abdomen  Jumps onto human and bites victim, vomiting blood

 Chills, Fever, Exhaustion  Nausea, Vomiting, Soreness  Swellings appeared; hard, painful burning lumps on neck and underarms  Swellings turned black, oozed pus and blood  Bleed internally, blood in pee, blood in poo, blood puddled under skin = black boils and spots all over (STINKY!)  DEATH

 Airborne disease  Spread by cough  Families spread disease to each other very quickly

 Bubonic Plague - black lumps  Pneumonic Plague - settles in lungs, lung liquefy, cough them up = DEATH  Septicemic Plague – Poisons victims bloodstream, stops bodies ability to clot, bleed from everywhere at the same time = DEATH

 Mortality rate between 50% to 100%

 People would call local physicians to treat family members  This is what the doctors would look like:

 Concoctions of herbs – no known cure (at the time)  Use herbs and plants to relive symptoms  Main treatment was bloodletting

 Many theories involving religion  Punishment from God  Pockets of bad air released by earthquakes  Jews poisoned the wells  Thousands of Jews were murdered all across Europe

 Essential that people were given last rites and confessed their sins  Compared to the death rate there were not enough clergy  Church could not offer a reason for the plague; tested beliefs  People questioned religion

 Prices and wages rose  Greater value placed on labor  Farming land was given over to pasturing; much less labor-intensive  Change in farming led to boost in cloth and wool industry  Peasants moved from country to town; responsible for decline in Feudalism

 In paintings, artists portrayed dancing skeletons or symbols of death  Music was very low and dark, lower cords and bass instruments

  ence/health-and-human-body/human- diseases/plague-article/   black-death/ 