Three waves of the plague have been recorded throughout history: Justinian; the Black Death; and the Modern Plague. The plague is a lethal disease caused by bacteria Yersinia pestis, a gram negative bacillus. Originating in ancient China/Central Asia, the first wave of the plague quickly spread throughout all of Europe in the 14th Century, wiping out over half of Europe’s entire population. Factors that aided the disease’s quick spread include growth and expansion of populations, global climate change, and ongoing wars of the time, along with the collapse of the Golden Age.
Symptoms of the plague, called the “Black Death” at this time, included swollen lymph nodes, called “buboes,” septic shock, organ failure, high blood pressure, coughing up blood, and welts. Three different types of plague infections exist(ed): bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic. Bubonic involves swollen buboes; septicemic involves infection of blood streams; pneumonic, the most lethal and most contagious, involved infection of the lung(s).
The plague struck fear in history. The people thought of it as a punishment from God, and further began punishing themselves in hopes of protection against the disease. Many blames were thrown at different ideas and groups: Jews, Mongols, tainted people and prostitutes, and other religious ideologies that could have been viewed as “evil.”
These blames lead to social distancing amongst different groups, living and nonliving. The treatment of the dead became less respectful, as the highly contagious plague could be caught from a living or nonliving host. Mass burials became popular, and it was difficult to find people willing to deal with any form of close contact with the bodies. Certain groups of people, because of religion or “ungodly” practices, were thrown out of cities. The more nobles and individuals more well-off would flee cities, creating an even bigger barrier amongst classes, leaving the less fortunate to be killed by the plague. Some doctors began to stop seeing or treating patients in order to save themselves. The plague took out over half of Europe, turned people against each other, and instilled fear, ruining all social order and any economy Europe held.
The plague is still a problem today; Y. pestis has not changed its virulence (neither worse nor better). However, though the strain of bacteria is exactly the same with the same capabilities and transmission, because of modern medicine and technology, it is now identifiable enough in its early stages to be treatable. Y. pestis can be found in fleas that seek rodents as hosts. Interaction with these rodents or host other animals results in disease. When these hosts die, the fleas and bacterium find new hosts, sometimes found to be house animals, e.g. cats or dogs. This allows easy access to humans of the disease. Those with the disease are quickly hospitalized after early identification for the chance to survive. Once hospitalized, the patient is isolated and treated.
The plague in recent years has been a huge threat to Madagascar, reaching epidemic levels after 2009 due to the poor living conditions and poverty of the country. Children and elderly, along with men and women who do outdoor work, are the most susceptible to the disease because they are more likely to come into contact with the lethal bacterium. The poverty, filth, and lack of hygiene contribute to the re-emergence and the epidemic levels of the plagued reached in 2009 Madagascar.
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