The Black Death that tore through Europe was indiscriminate; it took men, women, children, rich poor, anyone that crossed paths with the inflicted would soon fall to the disease as well. The origin and subsequent spread of the disease was attributed to fleas, rats, and the increase human contact that came from Mongols, merchants, and soldiers in conquest. With the increased travel, these groups carried the disease overseas and across land to quickly infect new portions of the population previously isolated. The poor living conditions, sanitation, and constant caring for the sick also enhanced the virulence of the disease.

Killing around 600 people a day, the population not only did not know how to cure the disease, but they were unable to prevent its spread, not knowing where it came from. With the unidentified carriers, society thought that perhaps God had sent the disease or that it came from a mysterious vapor. Eventually, they adopted practices of quarantining the sick and burying the dead as a means to try to control the disease but little impact was made. The death toll remained high and had great implications on what was the current state and progress of society.

Society was strained and divided under the pressure of the disease. Social groups were stigmatized as being primary carriers of the disease, some retaliated with violence and crime. Religious groups even submitted to cult like behavior as a means to protect themselves from infliction. There was mass hysteria in most cities. Despite the hysteria, there were still citizens working endlessly to make positive and longstanding contributions to society through the practice of medicine. Countless attempts were made and with tedious documentation, improvements were made that helped develop the modern practice of medicine. This makes one consider how many talents we lost access to as a society with the passing of such a large portion of the population. With so many deaths occurring, historians consider how many could-be renowned artists, architects, and philosophers perished. What contributions of theirs did society miss out on as a result of their death that came from the uncontrolled spread of the plague?

As the spread of the plague slowed down, however, society began to reform and did reach a point of growth and improvement. With less workers, wages increased, and the poor improved their economic standing. Benefitting the poor and often to the disadvantage of the rich, there was a reordering of social hierarchy after the passing of the plague. The standard of living rose and there was a slow but still increase in population. The Black Death remained active but did not spread through the world as it had with this first passing. It has reemerged in Madagascar and the United States, but not in the same capacity. The US had its first major outbreak in the early 1900s when an Asian chip carried infected rats and fleas. The primary regions of outbreak in the US are around the four corner region or California and Oregon. Globally, there have also been several cases in Madagascar as the disease reemerged there. At this point, we understand that the disease spreads through person to person contact of coughing, contaminated fluids or droplets, so practices of isolation aid in preventing the spread of the disease, in addition to the practices of rat, flea, and even cat control.

Sources: Class notes, movie notes, powerpoint, provided article

Emerging and re-emerging diseases are particularly dangerous as populations previously not exposed to such diseases have a lower immune system that makes them more susceptible to catching the virus and being unable to fight it. Such diseases, especially when spread by zoonotic sources, become even more dangerous as they threaten to spillover, meaning they can spread easily to a huge portion of the population. Examples of zoonotic factors that have facilitated the spread of disease are mosquitos that carried Zika in Uganda in 2015, and bats that carried Ebola in Guinea in 2013[1]. When diseases are spread in this way, it is harder to immediately identify or control the spread. This is because unlike infected humans, animals to not show sickly systems, and in some cases, like mosquitos for instance, contact is practically unavoidable.

Is there any way to combat this and better prepare or defend ourselves against a new outbreak of disease? The social implications of outbreaks could perhaps help with this.

Outbreak culture, which relies on the way that the spread of the infectious disease is portrayed in the public, could perhaps actually help this effort. Although the media can be flawed in its oversensationalization of events and threats, in the case of infectious outbreak, this is actually more helpful than not. Allowing the media to advertise the disease, its origin, its symptoms, and any sort of pattern that can be used to trace the outbreak, works in the favor of public health as the education can help bring forth new patients for diagnosis and keep the rest of the population away from possible sources of contamination[2]. The down side of this however, is the hysteria and social isolation that comes as a part of outbreak culture. Panic and fear of catching diseases can easily lead to cruel conditions for those with the disease. The AIDS epidemic was a prime example of this where the outbreak created an intense social stigma around what was labeled “the four Hs – homosexuals, heroin addicts,  hemophiliacs,  and  Haitians.”  [3] Is the ostracization of such social groups worth the impact such publicity may have on preventing the disease from spreading?

Past disease research suggests that it does not have to be an either-or decision. Scientists researching Ebola attempted to combat this isolation by naming the disease after a local river rather than the village where the most recent outbreak originated[4]. Their actions here not only prevented the creation of a stigma, but also aided preventing the spread of disease as enough information was still released. This is an easy habit to adopt, but what also must be adopted is a proactive mindset more than just a reactive mindset when it comes to disease prevention.

Without an active political agenda and government funds dedicated to researching new diseases, the United States will never be ‘ahead of the curve’ of infectious diseases. Investing in proper infrastructure and resources is essential to decreasing our susceptibility of another pandemic[5]. Also necessary is vigilant monitoring of populations and regions, such as West Africa, that are prone to the spreading of infectious diseases[6]. A rapid treatment, isolation, and monitoring plan that is put in place would be extremely beneficial in preparing for an attempting to counteract the next major outbreak.

[1] Spillover Movie

[2] “Media Messages and Perception of Risk for Ebola Virus Infection, United States”

[3] “Panic, Paranoia, and Public Health — The AIDS Epidemic’s Lessons for Ebola”

[4] Spillover Movie

[5] “Beyond the Ebola Battle — Winning the War against Future Epidemics”

[6] “After Ebola in West Africa — Unpredictable Risks, Preventable Epidemics”