Bubonic Plague Research Paper

1717 Words Jan 2nd, 2013 7 Pages
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. These bacteria remain in a dormant state primarily in a rat flea’s foregut. Once the flea has bitten a victim it regurgitates the contents in its foregut into the bite location. Once the bacterium has entered into a mammal’s warm body it begins to reproduce and spread throughout the mammal’s body. The reproduction of this bacterium creates large painful swollen lymph nodes which are called buboes. Once these buboes get large enough they begin to ooze infected body fluid so that any contact between an infected person and a healthy person will facilitate the spread of this disease. (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012)
The areas where the buboes form are the
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(The Scribe, 2011)
The diseases first pandemic happened in the 6th century it mainly affected the Eastern Roman Empire. This pandemic was called the Plague of Justinian; Emperor Justinian had been infected but survived due to a massive amount of treatments. This plague alone killed more than 25 million people within the Roman Empire. Once the disease made it to Constantinople it then spread from the major port city throughout the rest of the Mediterranean moving from port to port. The affected areas were Greece, Italy, and Asia Minor. In all the locations it began to spread inland but then the disease started to dwindle down until there were no more reported cases. (Hellenica World, 2012)
The next large reported case was the “Black Death” called this because of the black dots that the disease left on its victims. The Black Death had been first reported in the year 1347 and lasted until 1400. This disease originated from the east and was carried by the invading Mongols. It was during one siege of an Italian merchant fort near Caffa which is in the Crimea. The plague began to infect the besiegers until it got into the fort and started to infect the besieged. Once the spring came the Italian merchants fled on their trade ships and unknowingly spread the plague to Sicily their home port. From Sicily the disease spread northward into the rest of the European continent. It was believed at the time that putting herbs or

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