THE BUBONIC PLAGUE a.k.a. BLACK DEATH
In October 1347 , 12 ships had dropped at the bay at a Sicilian fort. Many people who came by to see the ship noticed something odd , almost all of the people on the ship were either dead or barely alive. Everybody’s skin was erupting with blackened boils on their skin from which erupted blood. It was ordered that the ship departed immediately. The ship had departed , but the disease had already done the damage. Almost 1/3rd (33.33%) of Europe had died due to this terrifying plague. But before them , the disease had already spread within the people of first China , India , Egypt , Persia and Syria. No one knew the cause. It already had killed 25 million people in China before it arrived in Constantinople and ravaged Europe.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN ?
WHEN THE BLACK DEATH FIRST APPEARED , PEOPLE WERE RATHER ASYMPTOMATIC OR DIDN’T HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS. THOSE WHO DECIDED TO GO TO THE COUNTRYSIDE AFTER CONTRACTING THE PLAGUE DIDN’T ESCAPE EITHER. THE PLAGUE HAD DECIMATED LIVESTOCK , LEADING TO A SHORTAGE OF WOOL IN EUROPE AND EURASIA. THE BLACK DEATH HAD KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE MERCILESSLY IN SOME AREAS THAT THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH PEOPLE TO BURY THE DEAD BODIES. THE PLACE THAT ONCE PEOPLE CALLED HOME HAD BEEN TAKEN OVER BY NATURE. IT HAD WIPED OUT 50-70 MILLION PEOPLE OR 30% OF ALL EUROPE WHILE WORLDWIDE ESTIMATES RANGED FROM 75-200 MILLION DEATHS. NOW YOU MAY THINK THAT THIS IS A SMALL DEATH TOLL. BUT HEY , LET ME TELL YOU , THE WORLDWIDE POPULATION AT THAT TIME WAS 500 MILLION . THAT MEANS THAT THE PLAGUE HAD KILLED ALMOST 50% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD. SINCE THERE WAS LESS SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AT THAT TIME , NOT MANY PEOPLE BELIEVED THE CAUSE OF THIS DISEASE.
WHAT WAS BEHIND IT ?
YERSINIA PESTIS , A HIGHLY CONTAMINATED BACTERIA CAN BE SPREADED EASILY IN MANY WAYS. IT COULD BE SPREAD BY AN INSECT CARRYING IT LEADING TO THE PLAGUE.ONE WAY WAS , THROUGH RATS . WHEN RATS GOT INFECTED AND THEY MANAGED TO INFECT MANY PEOPLE , THEY DIED. SO THE PESTIS SIMPLY MOVED FROM ONE BODY TO ANOTHER. IT SPREAD AT AN ALARMING RATE. DUE TO THE LACK OF GOOD MEDICAL INFRASTRUCTURE , THE PLAGUE SPREAD FASTER. AT THAT TIME ONLY 0.2% OF PEOPLE HAD A GENE THAT PROVIDED IMMUNITY.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT OUR BODY ?
When it detects a temperature of about 98.6 degrees , it realizes that it’s inside a mammal and that triggers it to modify the structure of the giveaway molecule , blinding your body’s immune system and attacking your lymph nodes. Any other bacteria would have got killed. When WBCs (White Blood cells) retaliate , Y.Pestis shoots down the responding cells with appendage which further injects toxins into the WBCs membrane’s destroying it. But now it needs to recover , so it feeds on your RBCs to get iron (Fe). RBCs are covered with hemoglobin and other proteins. Now , after reaching in your lymph node , each bacteria releases a molecule known as Yersinia Bactin which go around your body looking for protein called Transferrin which is rich in Iron. Once they get there , they take out the iron and separate it from the protein. Then Transferrin gets destroyed. Now you would get flu-like symptoms. The lymph nodes then start swelling which create the buboes on your body . Now you will have very high fever known as Hyperpyrexia and would be vomiting blood. But the worst thing is that if even one of those buboes burst , pus and other fluids will come out. Now you will die. But , the twist is , the plague doesn’t kill you , but rather your body does. After completely losing to Y.Pestis , the immune system triggers a condition which is known as septic shock which further leads in the leaking of blood vessels which lowers the amount of blood in your body leading to inadequate blood being given to all of your body parts and ultimately dying. But if caught early enough , it can be cured.
CAN IT STILL MAKE A COMEBACK ?
Well , yes it can. But our highly developed medical infrastructure may limit it to some extent. It had came again in San Francisco in 1900 but had ended in 1904. It came again in 1907 and 1908 before disappearing again. But , recently , in 2017 , the deadliest outbreak of modern times had hit Madagascar and killed 170 people along with infecting thousands more. But now our body easily recognizes Yersinua Pestis and fight it.
