Plagues have been around for as long as man has been on Earth. Just like the human race, microorganisms and bacteria have developed at tremendous rates. There are different plagues that come up from all around the globe. We’ve had things like Ebola and the Zika virus both come from different organisms. Then there were plagues that were in history that had a huge impact on society. The Black Death or Bubonic Plague had a huge impact on the European region of the world in the late middle ages. There are numerous factors as to why the Black Death was able to spread like it did. For the society of the people it was easy to spread because the people of the late middle ages really relied on travel and the sharing of goods on a global market. Things like furs and blankets held the Black Death, they were traded and sold but especially as the disease spread more people died and they took their clothing (which was infected) anyway. People used boats to pass around the European area and tended to carry the disease around. Rats were known to be carriers and they would be transferred around on the boats and then get off and transfer diseases that way. Also because of that flies would bite the rats they became carries and would bite people and pass the disease that way. Another big thing about the disease and what helped it spread was that was bacteria were spread from coughing so it was airborne. The global economic growth is what really enhanced the virulence of the epidemic.
Throughout society people were panicked. Society became hostile blaming different attributes that they believed to be the cause. This was the first time that society had faced something like this so people did not know where to turn. Also medicine was just beginning, there was not a lot of information on bacteria and how to cure it. Medicine was brand new and it was hard for people to really trust and understand it. Society of the time blamed God and religion. They thought he was mad at how society, especially the poor acted. Then there was blame towards Jewish people. They were believed to be the cause of the epidemic. People ended up killing a lot of Jewish people and poor people because they were the ones thought to be the problem. There were also thoughts about the idea that evils were in charge of it, like spirits and such had brought this evil to society. There was also a big separation between rich and poor. The plague hit both but when it started spreading the rich people of villages started moving out and leaving separating themselves from the poor. Then people also put those who were infected together so they would stay together. There were some people who were not infected and they went together. They also quarantined kings and royalty from people so they couldn’t be affected with the disease.
The overall affects on the society created a division between groups. Different races, religions and economic status really separated the people of the society. The disease killed numerous people but also because of the fear of who caused it people ended up killing each other and riots and hostility really broke out throughout the Europe region. Also to just recap it again religious groups were separated and a hate stirred up between them, as they believed they were part of the problem to why it happened. Then different educations and economic status separated people and where they went when the diseases started.
For cases today plagues like Zika and Ebola start just like any plague, the contraction can happen to anybody. They spread very quickly but today doctors and such are a lot smarter and have better technology to stop the transmission. We also have vaccines so diseases can be prevented from the beginning, which is a big factor. We also know a lot about the transmission of diseases and how they start and go. For today plague is transmitted when people travel around the world, since there is much more access to travel and people can explore the world so they can get around better they can contract much more diseases because they are more susceptible to things that are around. Today the country has numerous control protocols because we have a lot of preventable things with medicine and vaccines. Then also today we have groups like the CDC, FDA, and the government that help to regulate plagues and diseases. The social and cultural factors involved in the plague’s resurgence in Madagascar after 2009 were that Madagascar is underdeveloped in their medical and monetary side. It is hard for them to help and prevent the disease. The bubonic plague had spread fast and moved around from people to people. It became airborne so it spread fast and all around. There is also an alarming rate of death that goes with this down there. The society is struggling because of where they are economically. Other countries need to step in and help out because this case is different from the one in the late middle ages because we do have medicine and antibiotics to stop it nowadays.