What did medieval doctors think was the reason for the plague?

In what areas did the plague hit?

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The First Signs.

            Usual symptoms a lot of medieval doctors would look for were: high fever, feeling of sickness, chills, headaches, delirium, hemorrhages under skin, darkened skin, white coating on the tongue, sensitivity of light and swollen lymph nodes. These were the common symptoms patients had. If these symptoms show, the doctors knew that the patient had a form of the plague. The doctors had right by law to put the victims of the Black death in a quarantine. If the doctors didn't put then in a quarantine though, then the victims would go back to their houses and try to heal by getting blessed by a priest.

            There would be lab tests held on the victims to see how they got the disease. The tests were also to see if there was any way the doctors or anyone else could help cure the disease. As many times as the doctors held lab tests over and over again, they still couldn't find a stable way to cure the Black Death. There wasn’t a way to cure the Black Death in the middle ages, so most of its victims died. The very few who lived were then immune to the disease though. So the next time the plague came around, they were prepared. After the first round of the Black Death, there were about 3 or 4 more times it struck again in Europe and other countries. The first time though, the plague was the most devastating.

Getting the plague.

            It was very common to get the Black Death in medieval times. Half the population of Europe (between 40-50 million people) died from the plague in seven years. Wow. Whole cities and villages either died or were abandoned in a hope that they wouldn't catch the disease. They victims died so fast that other people didn't have enough time to give each one a propal burial. Either that or no one wanted to risk getting the plague themselves while being so close to the used to be infected body.

            As a result to the quickly dying bodies, the victims would just be thrown in ditches covered by dirt. Hungry dogs would then come by to dig them up then eat them. All types of people got the disease. These people included monks, peasants, the wealthy, men, kings, queens, women, and children. The first sign of the plague was found in a small poor community in Europe. Only two areas survived the disease, one of the areas not greatly affected was Scandinavia. Very few people actually survived the disease. Only every two out of ten people lived. That leaves eight out of ten people to suffer through the disease until it kills them.

Infected areas.

            The plague was found in many places during the medieval times. Usually found in major trade routes and big cities. Major routes the plague was found in included Asia to the Middle East. Mongolia and Northern China through Turkestan, then to the Black Sea region. India through the Indian Ocean (and the Persian Gulf) on cargo s

hips. The plague was also in the Fertile Crescent. Athens was then effected when refugees from other countries fled to Athens while trying to avoid getting the disease.

           The only region that could mildly escape the terrible Black Death was Scandinavia. But even then, some of Scandinavia’s people still had mild cases of the plague. With these mild cases of the Black Death, many people who caught the mild case in Scandinavia survived it. Usually at least one person you knew had the Black Death.So if you were traveling during these times and through these places, you would probably see cases of the plague or get the plague yourself.

The realities of the Black Death.

              Most people thought the illness was based on religious beliefs like gods and demons. Others believed bad vapors or clouds of gas caused it.  Another belief was that the disease was a way of God punishing them. Medieval doctors though, believed the plague was a result from having too many body fluids. Fluids such like tears, blood, and sweat. To treat this inbalance of fluids, doctors made victims bleed close to the heart in order to balance it. Bleeding by the heart was also said to improve circulation. Doctors tried to give victims accurate portions of liquids to make their system balanced once again.

               Scientist have figured out the more scientific and more realistic cause though. Rats. A lot of rats would have diseases like this in their blood. So when fleas come by and suck at the rat's blood, they get it. These fleas also went onto humans to feed off of them. So when the flea is contaminated and interacts with us, we get the plague. It traveled to all of these different places by rats going onto cargo ships where fleas and humans were. It's almost like these ships made everything convenient for everyone else involved with the plague.  Scientist have also gave the plague a more scientific name. It's better name is the Black Death.

The After Effects.

               One third of Europe's population died from the plague. The population in many areas decreased due to the amount of people dying or people trying to escape the disease. In a lot of cases though, it was probably both. A lot of victims were permanently weakened and stunned from the whole experience. Some blamed the Jews for transmitting the disease to everyone. So that issue caused even more chaos between everyone. Then that chaos caused riots and outbreaks of violence. An example of these outbreaks was the Peasants' Revolt in England. The disease also concluded in loss of labor since all of the slaves and workers died. So the decrease in labor also decreased production and the crops being sold and eaten. And then that led to starvation. Generations of families, scholars, artisans, and councils were destroyed. All of the social classes were forced to start all over again.

               These effects and social classes being destroyed happend a couple other times. There wer about three or four trimes the plague came back in. All of them caused nearly the same conquequences. The most devestating time it hot though waws between 1437 and 1450. During that time there were three different types of the plague. That meant that there were three different ways to suffer. But also three different ways to figure out a way to be cured. Even thought these other types were just as bad as the original, victims had hopes that this type would be different and less survere. Even though they werent right, it kept them keeping their chins up.