How To Survive The

Plague in Modern Times

By Elizabeth Tibbetts
"Cito, longe, tarde." - Latin for "Leave quickly, go far away and come back
slowly."
The plague that killed millions of people throughout human history, has
come to your neighborhood. What are you going to do? Well, first you
should know a little bit about the plague and what it does. The first
recorded plague outbreak was the Justinian Plague that hit the Byzantine
Empire in 541 A.D. It was named after the emperor Justinian I. The
Justinian Plague killed around 25 million people and almost all of the
known world at the time.
The Great Plague
The second known plague outbreak was the
Black Death or the Great Plague that hit Europe in
the mid 1300s and decimated 1/3 of the
continent's population (around 20 million people).
This plague started in Asia and made its way to
Europe on Genoese trading ships, after moving
through Asia. When the ships arrived in Europe
most of the sailors where dead. And, if they
weren't dead, then they were very sick and
delirious. They arrived at a Sicilian port in Messina
and were sent away, but it was too late. The
infected rats and fleas had already gotten into the
port and the plague was in Europe. The Black
Plague created a massive panic. There were people leaving their friends and loved ones to die;
some mothers refused to care for sick children for fear of becoming sick, and several husbands
turned their backs on their dying wives. People who caught the plague would often smell like
they were going to die because they were decomposing from the inside out.
An Act of God?
Many people thought that the plague was an act of God
to punish them for sins like greed, blasphemy, heresy,
fornication and worldliness. Certain religions believed
that people had to stay and wait out the plague, but
some people fled away to the country anyway. Some
wealthy men joined and created groups called
flagellants that travelled from town to town publicly

beating themselves and each other to pay for

their sins. People also thought that "purging"
their communities of troublemakers and
people who believed things that contradicted
their religion would help win God's forgiveness
and make the plague go away. Because of
people thinking this way and acting on their
thoughts, thousands of Jews were massacred
in 1348 and 1349 all in the hope of ending the
plague. Many Jewish people fled to where
they could possibly be more safe from
rampaging mobs.
Plague "Cures"
When the plague struck, it not only brought sickness and death it also brought chaos and panic.
People didn't know how to cure the disease or stop it, doctors and citizens came up with
possible cures, such as strapping live chickens around where the plague was making its victims
swell up, drinking potions laced with mercury, arsenic, and the "ground horn of a unicorn." None
of these methods worked, however, because mercury and arsenic are both deadly to the human
body and unicorns don't exist. Others tried more civil ways to keep the disease away. People
carried sweet smelling flowers, herbs and other nice smelling things to ward off infection, purify
the air, and keep sickness away. Doctors also tried crude and unsophisticated ways to purge the
body of the plague, such as bloodletting which was making someone bleed a lot to try and get
the virus out of the body and other dangerous techniques.
Furthermore, many people tried to run from the plague
by leaving the cities to live on farms in the country, but
this didn't work because farm animals like cows, sheep,
goats, pigs and chicken could get infected and infect
people in return.
Plague Problems
Europe suffered massive
death: a third of the
continents population and
the time. It is said that there
was not enough survivors
left to bury the dead, so the
dead just laid and decayed
in the streets or in their homes. There was also not enough room in
the graveyards to bury the dead. Due to so many deaths, there
were massive labor shortages. The plague also affected farm
animals like sheep. During the plague a large amount of sheep
died, causing Europe to have a large wool shortage.

The Modern Plague

This was the third recorded plague breakout. The modern plague began in China in the 1860s
and then moved to Hong Kong by 1894. Over the next 20 years, the plague spread through port
cities around the world on steam ships. This plague caused 10 million deaths. But, during this
outbreak, scientists identified that the plague was spread by infected fleas and that the virus
was a bacterial virus. Infection easily spread to local populations of squirrels and other small
mammals in the Americas, Africa and Asia, after being brought under control in most urban
areas.
Recent Outbreaks
The most recent epidemics have been reported
in India in the first half of the 20th century and
in Vietnam during wartime in the 1960s and
1970s. The plague is now commonly found in
Africa and Madagascar, areas that now give
over 95% of reported plague cases.
Types of Plague
There are three
different types of
plague and the
different types of
plague affect the
different parts of
the body. The
Bubonic Plague,
Septicemic Plague and the Pneumonic Plague, all have horrific
symptoms and effects on the body and mind. They are all deadly
and they are all caused by a bacteria called Yersina Pestis that
can be transmitted by infected rats and rodents.
The Bubonic Plague is the most common plague and occurs
after being bitten by an infected flea.
The Bubonic Plague gets its name
from the swollen lymph node called
"buboes" that are one of its symptoms. The bubonic plague is
deadly and its symptoms are, swollen lymph nodes that develop in
the groin, armpit and neck area. These swellings range from the
size of a chicken egg or an average sized apple, within in a week
of being infected. Swollen lymph nodes are tender and warm to the
touch. Other symptoms are a sudden fever, chills, headache,
fatigue, malaise and muscle aches.
The Septicemic Plague occurs when the plague virus multiples in
the blood stream causing fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea,
abdominal pain, bleeding from mouth, rectum, under the skin,

shock, death, blackening opened death of tissue in fingers, toes and nose. The body also gets
covered in purple splotches nicknamed "God's tokens" because "God usually took the sufferer
soon after they appeared."
The Pneumonic Plague is the least common but the most deadly. Pneumonic Plague affects
the lungs and can be spread from person to person through bacteria that enters the air after you
cough. Symptoms begin within a few hours after infection. These symptoms are cough with
bloody spit and mucus, difficulty breathing, high fever, nausea, weakness and vomiting.
The plague as a bacterial disease can be treated with antibiotics and can be prevented from
spreading by early identification with treatment and management of cases involving humans.
The Plague as a Weapon of War
The Plague, Yersinia pestis, a highly contagious
disease with an immensely high mortality rate if
left untreated has been used as a weapon of
biological warfare for centuries. Some war
strategies involving the plague have included
catapulting corpses over city walls, dropping
infected fleas from airplanes and others. Some
people are afraid that the plague could
potentially be used by terrorists.
Steps To Avoid Or Prevent The Plague:
1. Make sure you keep your home and
community as clean as possible. Yersinia pestis
(the plague virus) thrives in dirty and unsanitary environments.
2. As soon as the plague has hit your neighborhood, get a as far away from everyone as you
can get. It may be best to find a fresh place to stay for a few weeks until the plague has
dissipated.
3. If you end up catching the plague or show plague like symptoms make sure you go to your
doctor as soon as possible. They can give you medication and treatment to help get rid of the
plague in your system.
4. DO NOT go around publicly beating yourself or others because you think it will help stop the
plague. IT WON'T, SO DON'T. Also DO NOT massacre people because you think that will help
stop the plague, IT WILL NOT, SO DO NOT.
5. If you see someone or know someone with the plague, stay away from him or her as best as
possible and try not to touch the person. The plague can sometimes be transmitted from person
to person through minimal contact.
6. If someone near you is coughing try not to get any on you, if that person has Pneumonic
Plague it can be put into the air and spread when you cough.

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Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Plague." Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.
Pietrangelo, Ann. "The Plague." Healthline. George Kruck, MD, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 31 May
2015.
"Plague." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 31 May 2015.