The Black Death

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that the Black Death of the Middle Ages was the bubonic plague, a form of plague that is spread by rats. The paper describes the virulence of the plague that was seen as an evil force over which human beings had no control. The paper examines the mechanism of the disease. The paper reveals that the plague is not only a disease of the past; there is concern that the bubonic plague could be employed as a weapon by a rogue state or a terrorist organization.

From the Paper:

"The organism that causes bubonic plague is well known today. The plague is caused by a bacillus called Yersinia pestis that is transmitted by the flea. The plague is primarily a disease of rodents, and epidemics with human begins begin with contact with the fleas of infected rodents. The two primary forms of the disease in the human being are the bubonic plague, the most common form in the Middle Ages, and which is characterized by the swelling of the lymph nodes, and pneumonic plague, with the extensive involvement of the lungs. The plague is spread from rodents to human beings in crowded urban areas. In the fourteenth century, the disease was known as the Black Death, and some plague infections were bubonic and some were pneumonic."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson Jr, G.W., Leary, S.E., Williamson, E.D., Titball, R.W., Welkos, S.L., Worsham, P.L., & Friedlander, A.M. (1996). Recombinant V antigen protects mice against pneumonic and bubonic plague caused by F1-capsule-positive and -negative strains of Yersinia pestis. Infectious Immunology, Volume 64, Number 11, 4580-4585.
• Davis, S., Makundi, R.H., Machanq'u, R.S., & Leirs, H. (2006, November). Demographic and spatio-temporal variation in human plague at a persistent focus in Tanzania. Acta Trop., Volume 100, Numbers 1-2, 133-141.
• Duiker, W.J. & Spielvogel, J.J. (1994). World History: Volume I: To 1800. New York: West Publishing.
• Houhamdi, L., Lepidi, H., Drancourt, M., & Raoult, D. (2006, October). Experimental model to evaluate the human body louse as a vector of plague. Journal of Infectious Disease, Volume 194, Number 11, 1589-1596.
• Inglesby, T.V., et al. (2000). Plague as a Biological Weapon. Journal of the American Medical Association, 283, 2281-2290.

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