Bubonic Plague: The Black Death

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Bubonic death, also known as “the Black Death, arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea.” (quoted on History.com) As the people who gathered on the docks went to meet those who aboard the ship, they were met by an awful surprise. Majority of the sailors on the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were near death. Those affected by bubonic plague were overcome with fever, in extreme pain from the boils on their skin, and were unable to keep food down. Their skin was covered in weird black boils. The boils oozed of blood and pus which gave the illness its name: the “Black Death.” In panic, “The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe, almost …show more content…

Due to overcrowding of bacterial growth in the esophagus, the bacteria prevent food from entering the flea’s stomach. The flea then begins to starve and goes on a blood sucking spree. Again, due to the overcrowding of bacterial growth in the esophagus, the flee vomits the Yersina pestis into the victim’s skin during feeding. From there, “the germs invade nearly lymph glands in the bitten animal and produce an inflamed lymph node called a bubo.” (quoted on emedicinehealth.com) Buboes appear around the groin, armpit, or neck. The plague then spreads to every organ in the body. The host is basically poisoned to death as the bacilli gather in thick clots under the skin. Rarely will the plague spread to the covering of the brain. Other side effects include; gangrene, erupting pus-filled glands, and lungs that literally dissolve. Yersina pestis takes three to five days to incubate in the host before they fall ill. Once incubated, it takes on average twenty-three days before the first person

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