What was the Black Death? Summary, history and features

The Black Death is a disease transmitted by bacteria. It was one pandemic in part of Europe during the Middle Ages, mainly in the 14th century. It is estimated to have killed millions of people and is considered one of the greatest pandemics recorded in world history.

The disease - which is also called bubonic plague - is transmitted by bacteria yersinia. The main means of transmission is through the bite of fleas that live on species of rats.

history of the black plague

The disease probably originated in the Mongolian region and arrived on the European continent through Italy. The first known cases occurred in Crimea in the year 1346. During this period, Mongols and Genoese were in battle in the Caffa region.

The greatest spread of the plague was due to the large circulation of ships at the time, infected with rats contaminated by the disease.

The intense flow of ships and the rapid contamination and manifestation of symptoms (such as skin spots and blisters) caused the plague to become a pandemic in a short time, spreading a large part of the region's population. Estimates show that approximately one third of the population lost their lives as a victim of the Black Death.

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At that time there was not much medical knowledge about the disease and how to contain its rapid spread, which contributed to the number of victims being so large.

plague The Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel painted "The Triumph of Death". In the work, he portrayed the difficult times experienced during the spread of the plague.

Later, when maritime movement had already been reduced to stop the advance of the pandemic, the disease had already spread to several cities and continued to spread and to make victims fatal.

The lack of information at the time made it difficult to understand the causes and strength of the spread of plague and this made many people believe that the disease was a kind of "punishment divine".

The lessening of the plague

It is not known for sure what were the reasons that led to the decrease in cases of the disease in mid 1353. It is believed to be due to the large number of deaths and the habit of isolating the sick. These measures may have hampered the transmission of the disease-causing bacteria;

However, the disease has not completely disappeared. During the following years, to a lesser extent, new occurrences of Black Death were still registered in some regions of Europe.

The Black Death Doctors

The doctors who provided care to patients infected by the Black Death became known as plague doctors. Cities that were heavily affected hired doctors - often inexperienced - to meet the demand of these places.

Due to the rapid manifestation and worsening of the disease's symptoms, in most cases, despite medical care, the victims could not resist the plague.

A curious fact is that, to avoid the contamination itself, the plague doctors used a mask similar to a bird's beak. It contained a mixture of aromatic herbs to prevent contamination.

But the use of the mask was not very efficient as, later, it was discovered that the transmission of the plague happened through flea bites and not through the air.

black Plague Black Death Doctor.

In addition to the mask, the doctors also wore special clothing with glasses, a cape, boots, a hat and gloves.

Black Death Characteristics

The main characteristics of the Black Death are:

was an outbreak that hit much of Europe during the 14th century,
is considered to first big world pandemic,
transmission was believed to occur through fleas (transmitted the disease to humans) and rats (carried the bacteria),
the most common symptoms were: fever, vomiting and change in the size of the nodes,
the disease spread quickly,
at least 25 million people died from the disease at that time.

Black Death in Brazil

In Brazil, occurrences of the Black Death are rare in recent years. The last contamination by the disease was registered in 2015 in the state of Ceará.

There are no exact data on the arrival of the disease in the country, but the first records probably took place in 1899, first in the city of Santos and then in Rio de Janeiro.

A few years later, in 1904, the doctor Oswaldo Cruz carried out a campaign to combat the plague, motivated by the approach of the disease, which had already reached the territory of Paraguay five years earlier.

In the campaign, in addition to treatment measures for those infected, the appropriate measures to prevent the emergence of new cases were also disclosed.

In the country, the three main theories that could explain the onset of the disease were studied: by contamination of water and food, by direct contact with sick people and contaminated objects or through the polluted air.

Does the Black Death still exist?

Contrary to what many people might think, the Black Death still exists. It is clear that today the disease no longer spreads in the same way as it did in the Middle Ages, but eventually cases of contamination are still registered.

The transmission of the disease can happen in two ways: through the bite of fleas infected by the bacteria or through coughing.