Month: September 2022

PRE-PLAGUE EUROPE. “At the beginning of the 14th century, Europe was in the midst of a revitalization. The agricultural revolution had made food more plentiful than before. More land was being cultivated and life was more optimistic than it had been for centuries. Despite a famine from 1315-1317 and the onset of the Hundred Year’s War, the 14th century continued to be a time of growth in Europe. This growth came to an end in 1347 though, with the emergence of the Black Death.” https://lnkd.in/gSKiQpE View in LinkedIn

“THE BLACK DEATH of 1348-49 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European and possibly world history”. https://lnkd.in/gSKiQpE View in LinkedIn

TURNING POINT. “The Black Death was not only one of the greatest disasters in European history, but it was also one of the most defining moments in world history.” https://lnkd.in/gSKiQpE View in LinkedIn

ENORMOUS IMPACT. “The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–1353. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. The world population as a whole did not recover to pre-plague levels until the 17th century. The plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century.” https://lnkd.in/gjdinF2 View in LinkedIn

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT: “in many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead [...] And there were also those who were so sparsely covered with earth that the dogs dragged them forth and devoured many bodies throughout the city.” https://lnkd.in/gZz5b2U View in LinkedIn

TWENTY THREE DAYS. “The infection takes three–five days to incubate in people before they fall ill, and another three–five days before, in 80 per cent of the cases, the victims die. Thus, from the introduction of plague contagion among rats in a human community it takes, on average, twenty-three days before the first person dies.” https://lnkd.in/gZz5b2U View in LinkedIn

SHIP RATS. “Importantly, plague was spread considerable distances by rat fleas on ships. Infected ship rats would die, but their fleas would often survive and find new rat hosts wherever they landed. Unlike human fleas, rat fleas are adapted to riding with their hosts; they readily also infest clothing of people entering affected houses and ride with them to other houses or localities. This gives plague epidemics a peculiar rhythm and pace of development and a characteristic pattern of dissemination.” https://lnkd.in/gZz5b2U View in LinkedIn

LAG PHASE. “It took some time for people to recognize that a terrible epidemic was breaking out among them and for chroniclers to note this. The timescale varies: in the countryside it took about forty days for realisation to dawn; in most towns with a few thousand inhabitants, six to seven weeks; in the  cities with over 10,000 inhabitants, about seven weeks, and in the few metropolises with over 100,000 inhabitants, as much as eight weeks.” https://lnkd.in/gZz5b2U View in LinkedIn

THE OLD AND WEAK. “Scientists long believed that the Black Death killed indiscriminately. But DeWitte's previous research found the plague was like many sicknesses: It preferentially killed the very old and those already in poor health.” https://lnkd.in/ggGWR4A View in LinkedIn

POSITIVE SELECTION. “Geneticists know that human populations evolve in the face of disease. Certain versions of our genes help us fight infections better than others, and people who carry those genes tend to have more children than those who don’t. So the beneficial genetic versions persist, while other versions tend to disappear as those carrying them die. This weeding-out of all but the best genes is called positive selection.” https://lnkd.in/gWy9UtF View in LinkedIn