Matt Saunders II

2/16/17

HR: PowerPoint and video from class

Artifact 2 – Plague – Yesterday and Today

Plague is a disease that is still to this day by the general public not well understood. Back in 1347 AD when it occurred and was called the Black Death people were even less educated about the topic. In this paper I will go in to some detail about the social factors that contributed to the epidemic in several ways. Once something like this happens it is interesting to look into how people react to such an epidemic as well. It is human nature to want to fix the problem but we will look to see if they were putting an end to the epidemic or even furthering the spread. Finally, in hind sight we will look into the overall effect on society that the Black Death had. Many people learn about the Black Death and wonder could that happen today and if so what would be done differently and how would it affect society compared to the first time that it truly became an epidemic.

The plague started from Yersinia Pestis and was carried by fleas. Humans were incidentally infected due to the fleas from black rats that were on merchant ships traveling to trade ports. When the rats died the fleas needed a new host and they found humans. If the infected humans carried it in to the port city or if the rat got off of the ship with the disease then either could infect a different human. It started with fleas but was also spreadable by blood and direct contact. That was the only good thing about the disease; it did not spread through the air. The people of that time did not have the knowledge on how to keep the Black Death as it would be referred to from spreading. Road were being improved upon so travel to other cities were becoming easier and ships were being built bigger and better. Easier travel and trade lead to the disease spreading throughout China, Asia, and Europe.  The symptoms of the Black Death are high fevers, enlarged lymph nodes and buboes. The location could be anywhere from the groin, behind the ears, neck, and under the arm. On average sixty percent of those infected with the bacteria died. The uninformed public was a huge factor in how the disease spread. The superstitions and religious beliefs also allowed the disease to spread, for example the ritual was to bury each individual similar to how we Americans to today; however the longer the body was around other humans and the more contact they had with the body the more likely the disease was to spread.

The response from the society was quite drastic as one can only imagine what it was like to lose over half of the population. Again, this is where superstitions came out in full force. One example was a group called the flagellants; they believed that god was upset with society and if they punished themselves then he would have mercy on the towns they cleansed. They were basically trying to redo the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Walking through the streets carrying crosses and whipping themselves drawing blood, this group actually became quite popular. The flagellants hurt the church offering a new belief system that was a polar opposite from the churches teaching. The second superstition was that Jews poisoned the water and that all Jews were responsible. From that assumption alone thousands of Jews were burnt at the stake. People did not realize that Jews were dyeing at an equal rate to everyone else and that this assumption made no sense what so ever; however this is a great example of how desperate people were for an  answer and someone to blame. In order to attempt to decrease the severity of the epidemic many people would leave loved ones out of fear of becoming infected and many could have easily died from starvation. Last rights were also a huge deal back then and many priests refused to see the dead out of fear of becoming infected so this was very demoralizing for the citizens. The overall impact of the Black Death on society and culture were felt all over society to include church, medicine, education, economy, and social order.  The church was hit extremely hard because everyone turned to faith and blamed God or the church then looking for scientific evidence that actually caused the problem. Medicine was in the process of being advanced and with all of the illness there were plenty of opportunity to experiment on the ill. Education was seen to grown throughout the entire process, humans did learn from experiences and if something worked or failed it was noted and this also included practices of prevention. The economy and social order following the Black Death was flip flopped from when it started. It freed up lots of land that was able to be owned and those that did survive had large amounts of money and could afford it. Where Kings and Rulers were used to having slaves and servants had to do the work by themselves because there were other advanced job opportunities.

The chance of the “Black Death” or plague coming back in the same severity as it did back in 1347 is less likely but still a realistic threat. Research has been done and it is quite interesting. They found a plague victim from 2009 and tested in and compared the species of disease to that of the Black Death and they were identical. Today the plague comes up sporadically in regions such as Madagascar, Australia, and even the U.S. However, with modern technology deaths are reduced but still occur depending on how fast the diagnosis is and what part of the world you are in. Plague transmission is still not an airborne disease that can be caught but it is still extremely contagious through direct contact and body fluids. Nowadays the protocol is much different, quarantining is now done correctly involving the person infected and everyone he or she has come in contact with. The scary thing about today is how fast a disease can be around the world compared to when the Black Death occurred; this is largely due to air travel. The plague re-emerged in the nineteen hundreds but reached epidemic levels in two thousand nine. The reasons for this were mainly palm oil production; humans would go in and clear the jungle and leave only the palm trees standing. At least they are not clearing the entire forest many would say but the plague is actually carried by animals. Just like humans when they do not have as much living space they become crowded and it allows for more disease and even mutations of the disease. Human industrialization is the main cause for the re-emerging of the plague in two thousand nine.

References: PowerPoint and video from class.

Cadet Matthew R. Saunders II

Artifact #1

2/9/2017

The Appearance of Plagues

In the early beginning many plagues are believed to have started from animals, not humans. However, it would not take long for that to affect the human race. All it took was a human to consume the meat of the infected animal, and unknowingly the human consumed the “super germ” that is the plague. This alone is not enough to cause a plague or the outbreak of the plague like the Black Death. Humans were too few in number for the super germ to take effect on others than those that consumed or came in to direct contact with the germ. It would not be until the introduction of agriculture and a system called hunting and gathering. The systems previously mentioned would lead to a sedentary life style and these were the consequences of becoming “comfortable”.

Agriculture allowed for the production of more food that was more dependable then hunting. Hunter gatherers would farm the land and hunt in the local area and drink the water until it was gone and move. This resulted in few children and small sized villages that were very mobile. This resulted in the initiation of settling down; humans could call a certain place home for a while and then find a new one when resources were famished. This was better for the super germ because it could in fact infect more than just the few people that were in contact with the source; however it still could not become widespread because there was not a large enough population. Coming in contact was still the only way to get in a host because the constant moving around kept the humans away from piles of feces and rotting meat. It is also noticed that there were less children since everything had to be carried from one home to the next. Thousands of years later, the population had grown by a factor of ten and major advances in agriculture lead to the extinction of the hunter gatherer. Families continued to settle down more and stay in one location as they could grow more crops. This was seen as the preferred way to live life. Before long families had to find something to do with the large amounts of feces that were produced by the large number of humans. Years ago the “super germ” I have talked about was the only real threat, well now there were worms and of disease that could be caught from the feces. Fleas too had adapted from animals and came to like humans, these fleas are called lice. Most illness were not seen at this time however, the domestication of animals would breed a new grounds for disease production. The good thing about the domestication of animals is that the food source that was dependable was now not just vegetables that were harvested in the fields but also meat. This being said a denser population could be supported. Settled towns however now accumulated animal feces and bones and garbage from all of the activities and this exposed them to many other pathogens. In some cases the pathogens that were coming from the compiling waste was not as much of a threat as was the rodents and other vectors that it very well did attract that were potentially carrying their own pathogens. With the new sedentary lifestyle many had make shift water storage that very well could have been open which attracted mosquitoes which carried nasty diseases. Speaking of the different advancements in agriculture, irrigation was also a huge help in watering the crops but this too was a favorite breeding ground for mosquitoes. These advancements lead to bigger cities and towns which lead to larger human population in dense and relatively compact areas.

Dense populations and crowds of people are what sealed the deal for the human race. This was the key element, families and neighbors were within very close proximity and this allowed for the most basic cold to spread from family member to family member, much less the more potent and adaptable plagues. Diseases that came from this initially were smallpox, mumps, leprosy, measles, and polio. Most of the disease just mentioned humans have found cures or vaccines which have reduced the threat; some diseases that have surfaced with in the last one hundred years and are still troubling the human race are HIV, Ebola, and zika.

Globalization was a huge contributor to the spread of disease and microbes such as the plague. Features of the globalization that were important to this spread were wars. War was an instigator to explore foreign countries and before long soldiers were exposed to microbes they were not used. Infected soldiers would eventually return home and spread this to their home country. It peace time trade was flourishing and trade routes between countries are what opened the door for the black plague in Europe. That idea alone is what allowed plagues and other diseases to spread from one country to another. Fast forward to the modern day, the main threat that is new compared to those times is the speed of travel. A brand new disease in one country can be spread to twenty countries in less than a day.

Climate change is a huge deal and can be seen as the main fuel for the Black Death. For example, influenza thrives in a volatile climate. When temperatures jump from seventy one day and thirty a few days later and then back up it makes the human body vulnerable. The human body likes patterns and routine and when weather patterns shift it can either make the human body more susceptible to disease but it may also create an environment for a new or dormant disease.

References

The price of Being Sedentary PowerPoint

Chapters 2 and 3 from text.

Help Received: None other than authorized references.