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Bubonic Plague In The 17th Century

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In the 17th century Europe experienced a devastating outbreak of the bubonic plague. This was the second time that Europe faced the plague since the fourteenth century. The Great Plague of Long took place in the spring of 1665 in St Giles-in-the-Fields. According to national archives “in the month of September 7,165 Londoners died in one week.” The bubonic plague also known as the Black Death and is contracted by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. The way this bacteria works is that it attacks the lymph nodes and then spread throughout the body. It spreads from person to person, in the air, and from animal or rodent bites. The disease lives within rodents. The reason that the rodents didn’t die is because some of them are immune to the bacteria. …show more content…

When the insect would move to a new host it would try to drink the new host blood. However it wouldn’t be able to and would cause the insect to vomit. Thus spreading the bacteria into the human body. According to the center for disease control and prevention (CCDC) signs of the plague are “sudden fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes called buboes.” There are three types of plague bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic plague. Signs of the septicemic plague are “fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, shock, and internal bleeding. ” The skin or certain limbs may turn black. Pneumonic plague victims “develop fever, headache, weakness, and a rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and sometimes bloody or watery mucous. Pneumonic plague may develop from inhaling infectious droplets or from untreated bubonic or septicemic plague that spreads to the lungs. ” When the bacteria is in the lungs it causes the person to cough blood. As the person is constantly coughing it makes it easier for the disease to be transmitted to family members or anyone who is in contact with that …show more content…

Others tried to use aroma therapy and special baths to heal the patient. This led to the development of plague mask. Which were believed to filter the air so help from getting infected. Things had gotten so bad in Europe that Doctors denied patients, priest refused to give religious ceremonies.
By the end of the nineteenth century a French biologist discovered the bacteria responsible for the plague. Today there are anti biotics to help fight the infection. In conclusion the great plague of London was a tragedy that became a social normal. Europe went centuries without seeing the plague. To witnessing an entire town die in a matter of days. Today the plague still exist however it is a lot more

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