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The Bubonic Plague has killed more people than any other plague. During the
1300’s, the Black Death, as they called it, killed nearly half the population of
Europe. They called it the Black Death because of the dark color the people’s
faces would turn after they died. It is caused by rod-shaped bacteria, Yersinia
Pestis. The Bubonic Plague is an acute and severe infection. It is carried by
the fleas on infected rodents(rat, squirrel). If the rodent or flea bites a
person then it can be passed from person to person from mucus droplets spread by
coughing. When infected, the person becomes ill in a few hours to a few days.
The bacteria spread throughout the body. The symptoms include swollen lymph nodes(buboes), damaged capillaries signified by bleeding under the skin and
black splotches, high fever, aching limbs, vomiting blood, shivering and extreme
pain, and swelling continues in lymph nodes on groins, armpits, and neck until
they burst shortly before death. Other forms of the plague are pneumonic, which
causes severe pneumonia and septicemia. All forms of the plague are extremely
dangerous and contagious. (2) The plague has been known for at least
three-thousand years. Epidemics have been recorded in China since 224bc. The
disease occurred in huge pandemics that destroyed the entire populations of
cities throughout the Middle Ages; they have occurred sporadically since that
time.
The last great pandemic began in China in 1894 and spread to Africa, the
Pacific islands, Australia, and the Americas, reaching San Francisco in 1900.
Plague still occurs in Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia, but rarely
appears in the U.S. Two small, well-contained outbreaks occurred in India in
1994. In 1950 the World Health Organization initiated sanitation programs for
plague control throughout the world. (1) Many preventive measures, such as
sanitation, killing of rats, and prevention of the transport of rats in ships
arriving from ports in which the disease is endemic, are effective in reducing
the incidence of plague.
Famine, which reduces resistance to the disease,
results in spread of plague. Individuals who have contracted the disease are
isolated, put to bed, and fed fluids and easily digestible foods. Sedatives are
used to reduce pain and to quiet delirium. During World War II, scientists using
sulfa drugs were able to produce cures of plague; subsequently, streptomycin and
tetracycline were found to be more effective in controlling the disease. (3)
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