The medieval period is a time I really enjoyed learning about. One of the hardships that time period had to face was the black death. The plague killed more than 20 million people in Europe over a period of five. It started in Europe in 1347 when ships from the Black ship docked in Messina and it was discovered that most of the sailors were dead or greatly ill. The symptoms of the plague were, swelling as big as an apple, then came boils. The boils would cause blood or pus. Then people would experience a fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, aches and pains. All of theses symptoms usually ended in death. By the end of the 19th century it was founded by Alexandre Yersin had discovered that the black death was caused by a germ that was found in rats and fleas.
I find this part of the medieval times to be very interesting because of what we are going though right now with COVID-19. While the coronavirus is not as extreme as the black death. It is still a deadly disease that a lot of people don’t know a lot about. Just like in the times of the plague a lot of people didn’t know a lot about the disease except that people were dying. While we have better technology and are learning about COVID-19 more and more every day. It is still a scary experience for people.
The black death had healthy people doing all they could to avoid getting sick. “Doctors refused to see patients; priests refused to administer last rites; and shopkeepers closed their stores” (History, 2020). This text reminds me what is happening today. Doctors are only seeing patients after doing an over the phone interview to make sure they don’t have symptoms of the coronavirus and a lot of stores are closing to help stop the spread. Social distancing and quarantine were something that was also used during the medieval times. It appears we are taking a lot of the same precautions as those who were dealing with the black death.
The plague never really went away. We have antibiotics now that help, but It is said that there are still about 1,000 to 3,000 cases every year of the plague. Which when you think about it, things like disease never really go away. We just find ways to cure them. Like with antibiotics and vaccines.
References
History. (2020, March 30). Black Death. Retrieved from History: https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death