It didn’t disappear btw. The black death wasn’t 1 round of disease that killed everyone. There were waves of it and the big one in Europe wasn’t the first or last deadly outbreak. It is still around but thanks to antibiotics it is mostly a non issue.
When I was stationed in Colorado, we were doing our exercise in an open field of grass, rolling around, doing push-ups and sit-ups etc, when someone ran up and told the person running the formation that we needed to move because plague had been discovered in the prairie dog droppings all over the base, just like the ones we were apparently rolling around in
Fun times
If I know anything from my time in the Army, everyone just went over to the next hill and continued rolling around in the contaminated uniform.
Pretty much
How did it only kill 1/3, did many people survive it?
Some people didn’t get it and some had the right genes to fight off the disease. Those genes have now been linked to autoimmune diseases https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/genes-protective-during-the-black-death-may-now-be-increasing-autoimmune-disorders-202212012859
In addition to what the other commenter said, there’s some luck of the draw, too. There were three forms of it, having to do with how you were infected. Bubonic was one, associated with sores and boils on the skin, caused by flea bites. Pnumonic was a lung infection, which could spread directly via droplets. And septemic was the blood infection version, usually happening as one of the others progressed.
Bubonic only killed about 40-60% of those who showed symptoms, while pnumonic and septemic killed 90-100% of those who showed symptoms.
So to get infected at all, you needed either to be bitten by an infected flea, share air with someone who has pnumonic, or share fluids with someone that has bubonic (specifically the pus from the sores) or septemic (the blood, though maybe other fluids too).
Some managed to avoid these entirely. Others could have had lower exposures to the point where they didn’t develop symptoms. If someone gets infected but the infection doesn’t get established enough to become stable, they often don’t get treated any differently from people who weren’t infected at all. Those death rates only apply to those that they knew had it (though sometimes death rates are given per population rather than infected, and those tended to vary wildly in infected areas, from like 50% to 80%).
With viruses, at least, asymptomatic infection seems to be far more common than we would have thought. Both ebola and covid antibody studies showed that the antibodies were found in many who never got sick, implying they were exposed but their immune system beat it before symptoms showed up.
Bacteria isn’t necessarily the same, but it’s possible that something like this is a factor and those might have even developed some immunity. Plus, natural selection would select for people who are just less susceptible to it while it’s out there killing off a significant part of the population.
The word “quarantine” originates from a Venetian policy that every single ship had to wait outside of port for 40 days to ensure nobody had the plague. I’m sure the antivax people would have no problem with such measures?
What would they do if everyone on a given boat just straight up died from the plague?
Them’s the breaks… Sea fairing was a dangerous occupation.
I guess eventually some enterprising individuals would attempt to salvage the boat and contents…
It also killed between 10% and 100% (average of a 3rd or so) of populated areas every 10 years for about 600 years. So ~3x longer than the US has been around.
So sick of seeing confidently incorrect people opining, using historical examples, when they have never before cracked open a history book and have no idea of the context.
So sick of seeing confidently incorrect people opining, using historical examples, when they have never before cracked open a history book and have no idea of the context.
This has always been the case through history.
The issue is Twitter boosts them over less engaging experts. The new problem is the medium. Twitter is not a fair forum, and these takes trend deliberately.
…And I think its really important for scientists (or anyone who believes in science) to recognize that. With all due respect, I do not understand, with everything that’s happened, why they still keep using Twitter.
Henry Ford believed the Elders of Zion, and he was a cultural icon in business, which I assume meant he was top tier intelligent at the time.
It did not disappear. It’s still posting on social media.
Kind of rude to talk about Kanye like that
The Black Plague was truly a horror, but it DID break the back of Catholicism in Europe, so that’s nice. Every cloud has a silver lining
It did not cause imaginary autism though.
Ah you see it killed only non autistic people leaving a higher percentage if autistic people to breed.
This is completely fake comment.
Uhhh penecilin? Also i think its still around, its just easilly treatable
At first I attributed this to dumbfuckery but lately I’m again seeing more of these opinions but now from people who see it as an opportunity
In today’s installment of it’s always projection: This is why Republicans project that the left is a death cult.
It’s Europe’s fault for being so weak. Better tell me how many Americans have died because of it!
I prefer people who survive the plague 🤷♂️
Yeah but what has it done for you lately
Does anyone have any recommendations on books about the black plague?
JD Vance cheering on the Bubonic Plague.
Let’s not get lost in the details
