Epidemic 8: The Black Death

Carts piled high with corpses, dying families boarded up in quarantine and kings and peasants alike wailing to heaven for deliverance -- when it comes to epidemic diseases, few illnesses instill such dire images as the Black Death. Considered the first true pandemic disease, the Black Death killed half of Europe's population in 1348 and also decimated parts of China and India. This "great dying" followed paths of trade and war, decimating cities and towns and permanently altering class structure, global politics, trade and society. To learn more about the Black Death, read How the Black Death Worked.

The Black Death has long thought to have been an epidemic of plague, traveling in its bubonic form on the fleas of rats and through the air in its pneumonic form. Recent studies have called this into question. Some scientists now argue the Black Death may have been a hemorrhagic virus similar to ebola. This form of illness results in massive blood loss. Scientists continue to study the remains of suspected plague victims in hopes of uncovering genetic evidence to substantiate their theories.

If it was plague, then the Black Death is still with us. Caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the illness can still present a problem in impoverished, rat-infested areas. Modern medicine allows for easy treatment of the disease in its early stages, making it a far less lethal threat. Symptoms include swollen lymph glands, fever, cough, bloody sputum and difficulty breathing.

After you read the next page about malaria, you may feel no guilt killing the next mosquito that lands on your skin.