3.4 | The Black Death
The Black Death (1347–1352) killed 40% of Europeans. The medical
community had limited expertise and was unaware of the disease’s
transmission via black rat fleas. There were no preventive measures in
place, and quarantine wasn’t even used until 1377.. Black buboes spread
throughout the body, turning it black. The symptoms were scary. The
death rate was similar across groups. The economy of Europe was badly
hit. noted that uncollected crops caused food costs to rise in rural
regions . Trade was interrupted in cities. Nominal wages went up sharply
due to the scarcity of labor.
An estimated one-third of the world’s population (200 million) died in
just four years due to the Black Death. The exact cause of the plague’s
end is unknown. However, it is generally agreed that people who survived
the pandemic acquired immunity. Unfortunately, the original plague
never vanished; it returned 800 years later. Armed forces, colonizers,
and traders seem to have imported and exported the disease on ships and
land, allowing for much quicker transmission of infections than during
the last epidemic. People also learned to travel farther and faster and
build larger towns. Although the disease’s transmission was known to be
correlated with proximity, there was still no knowledge of how to stop
it. Emergency public health precautions were implemented soon after the
plague reached Europe, like today’s social distancing. ‘Quarantine,’
deriving from the Venetian term ‘quarantine,’ warranted 40 days of
waiting for ships to offload passengers at the port of Venice and other
ports to make sure that no one was bringing the plague to the city.
Undoubtedly, the Black Death was more disastrous than Covid-19. It led
to much more fatality than Covid-19. Unlike Covid-19, it had little
effect on the victims’ age, socioeconomic level, and health prior to
contracting the disease. After the Black Death, bubonic plague outbreaks
continued for centuries. In general, the epidemic only struck a few
towns at a time, and mortality was far lower than it was during the
original pandemic. However, the poor were disproportionately impacted.