All the facts on the black plague
What is the black death?The Black Plague is actually a strain of virus called Yersinia pestis, or, the Bubonic Plague. The Bubonic Plague is a bacterial disease, transmitted by the fleas of infected rodents. Its symptoms include (this is a very vague description, more details to come don't worry) high fever, weakness, and the formation of buboes, especially in the groin and armpits. A buboe is a swelling in of blood in the groin or armpit. Unless you want incredible pain and anguish in two places that it doesnt need to be, i advise you to take a shower to get rid of the fleas every once and a while. AND STAY OUT OF THE CITIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What will be the chance of survival in the middle ages?Well, this depends on a lot of things. If you are rich, you will be able to get out of the cities and only have a 27% chance of catching the plague. If you are a monk, well, sucks to be you. 50/50 chance of survival. If youre a clergy, even more sucks to be you cause you've got 50-60% chance of getting the plague. And if youre a peasant, you have the same odds, if not worse, than a monk. If you were born between 1300 and 1400, you have a 50% chance of living. If i were you, i would get out of civilized areas as soon as i can and stay there for a long time, in isolation. AND TAKE REGULAR BATHS AND WASH YOUR CLOTHES PEOPLE SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!
How many people will die?"the most significant outbreak was in Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Over a five-year period from 1347 to 1352, 25 million people died." -Google (see in cites) In medieval Europe, 20-25 million people will die of the Black Death, or, 1/3 of the population in Europe. A lot huh? NOW do you understand why its so important to NOT catch it???
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what are the symptoms?First, patients experience a sudden fever. Just minding their day, doing their business, then WHAM!!!!!! They're sick. Yeas, just like like. Then chills. Worse than feverish chills. Feel like you're slightly freezing-to-death chills. Body aches come next. Kinda like growing pains, except much worse. Next is the sore throat. Like, cant speak sore. Painful. Then come the headaches. You think, oh, meh, its just a headache. Wrong. This headache will be worse than any headache you've ever had in your entire life. Then you'll get weak. Really weak. Like, can't even get out of bed and keep your food down weak along with profuse sweating. But wait, there's more! You will get a general feeling of sickness all over. Sometimes there's abdominal pains too. Fun right? AND THERE'S STILL MORE!! Next is nausea and vomiting (sometimes containing your life-giving blood). You'll get constipated, or have diarrhea (there is no inbetween) and your pee will be black or tarry. And there's still more guys keep up now. Couching. Just coughing. Sneezing too. Both containing more of your precious life-giving blood. Shortness of breath (means it gets difficult to breathe). You're neck gets stiff after that. Fun. You won't be able to breathe OR move your neck. Sounds like a blast. AND THERE'S MORE!!! You get to have another fever! Yay! This time with irregular heart beat and irregular blood pressure (that alone could kill you). Then you'll get confused a lot and more frequently as the infection progresses. Along with, (drumroll please), SEIZURES!!! That's when your brain wigs out and you go all wacko and have no control of what you do and you go unconscious. Horrible. Then buboes appear. Only one or two. But they swell and become tender and extremely painful. It starts out with one or two, but slowly spreads all over (especially in the groin, armpits, or neck, depending on the location of the flea bite. If you live long enough to see the buboes come out from under the skin, which would be a miracle in itself, most likely they will burst with puss and blood. While this process is excruciatingly painful, it is necessary. If they didn't pop, you would surely die. One of the main causes of death were the buboes holding so much toxin that the victim is poisoned. The other is, the blood vessels under the skin, especially the nose, fingers, and toes will burst. The blood will dry under the skin and the victim would die from blood poisoning. It will also turn the skin black, hence the name "The Black Death."
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