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The Black Death: 1340-1400

The Black Death: 1340-1400. Origins. immediate source was Asiatic (probably marmots) – but possibly African originally first reports: China, 1330s via traders and Mongol armies – Constantinople and Trebizond 1347 “the flying corpses of Caffa” – and arrival in Sicily 1347.

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The Black Death: 1340-1400

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  1. The Black Death:1340-1400

  2. Origins • immediate source was Asiatic (probably marmots)– but possibly African originally • first reports: China, 1330s • via traders and Mongol armies – Constantinople and Trebizond 1347 • “the flying corpses of Caffa” – and arrival in Sicily 1347

  3. Spread into Europe(N.B. diffusion pattern)

  4. Symptoms • It started with a headache, then chills and fever, which left the victim exhausted and prostrate. Nausea, vomiting, back pain, soreness in the arms and legs. • Within a day or two, the swellings appeared. They were hard, painful, burning lumps on his neck, under the victim’s arms, on the inner thighs. Soon they turned black, split open, and began to ooze pus and blood. They may have grown to the size of an orange.

  5. It was possible to recover. But more than likely, death would come quickly. Because after the lumps appeared the victim would start to bleed internally. There would be blood in his urine, blood in his stool, and blood puddling under his skin, resulting in black spots all over his body. • Everything that came out of his body smelled utterly revolting. He would suffer great pain. • And he would die barely a week after he first contracted the disease.

  6. Causes? • Prime suspect: bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis) • carried by fleas (vector) • and in turn by rats • N.B. Black vs. Brown Rats

  7. Black Death = plague? • symptoms largely a good match • occasional pneumonic plague symptoms reported • disease known to be endemic in Asia • rapid spread could be due to mutation to airborne form

  8. Other possibilities • Iceland – no rats, but still Black Death…pneumonic transmission? • Cohn (2002): was it another disease? • candidates: • Anthrax (cattle ‘murrain’ in C14th Europe) • Ebola-like virus • some unknown and now dormant disease (perhaps Yersinia pseudotuberculosis?)

  9. Impact on human populations • records are poor – • best estimate:35-70% morbidity • 75%+ mortality rate • overall mortalityc.1/3 to (locally) 1/2 of Europe’s population • 75 million total – 25-50 million in Europe

  10. Later history • repeated outbreaksin Europe until late C17th (e.g. 1665-66, England) • still endemic in CentralAsia and (non-human)SW USA • could it return? YES!But now …penicillin

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