Can Disease Change the World?

How did the Bubonic Plague and Smallpox affect people and society?

Throughout history, numerous kinds of viruses and bacteria had hit humans and still are. Some were weak, so humans could easily overcome and recover. But some diseases were fatal, and millions of people died from them. Let's look at the two deadly epidemics that completely changed the society of the time.

7-1 Matthew Kim

ORIGIN

The Black Death is believed to have originated in the Gobi Desert early in the 14th century. They landed in Europe in 1347.

The origin of smallpox is unknown, though it is believed to have arisen in northeastern Africa around 10,000 B.C.

The Gobi desert spans China and Mongolia. Accordingly, China was the first country to suffer from the disease.

The most primal and precise evidence of smallpox is the mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V, who died in 1157 B.C. It has pockmarks on its face.

SYMPTOMS

For the first few days...

-high fever appear

-limbs ache

-feel fatigued

After that...

-the lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, and groin start to swell and turn black. They grow bigger and bigger, and pus

begins to fill

(called buboes)

-vomit blood

-feel extreme pain

-death occurs within a 

week

When infected...

-goes through an incubation period for 10-14days

After that...

-a rash appears on the face and inside the mouth, then soon spreads to the whole body. It gradually becomes larger and more painful, and pus fills up

(called pox)

-have diarrhea

-vomit

-feel fatigued

-severe headache and fever appear

-scabs form on the poxes and eventually fall off three or four weeks later. Survivors were scarred or sometimes blinded.

The Spreading

People become infected with the Black Death when fleas that used to live in rodents with the bacteria bite them.

Smallpox is a disease that has no host but humans. People become infected when inhaled the droplets of a victim.  

The cause of infection

Spreading around the world  

The Black Death spread to the Middle East through the Silk Road and then to Europe via merchant vessels and the Mongolian armies.

The map showing how the Black Death spread.

After its outbreak, smallpox later spread slowly to other continents. Because it had no other host but humans, the spreading took way longer than other diseases. First, it was sent to Persia, India, and China. Then the Crusades who were returning from the Middle East introduced it to Europe. By the time the Age of Exploration began, smallpox had become a severe pandemic and started to spread worldwide through European ships. Countless indigenous people who had no natural immunity died.

Different views held by people

The Black Death was so terrifying that people went mad and started doing irrational things. Some thought they were all going to die and indulged in the idea of Hedonism, doing whatever they want. Others who believed that the plague was God’s punishment became Flagellants. They marched around towns for days whipping themselves and hoped God would forgive them. Some people blamed minorities and foreigners for spreading the disease and often attacked them. Some towns barricaded themselves in, afraid to let anyone in or out.



Smallpox was one of the most horrible diseases throughout all times, and most people feared being infected.

But for the ruthless conquerors in the 18th century, it was an essential means of further expansion of their countries’ colonies rather than a scary illness.

An illustration of the flagellants.

There was once even an incident in which British forces gave smallpox-laced blankets to the Native Americans. They wanted to kill them all and take over the land with much less effort!

Meanwhile, some scientists tried to find a way of stopping the infection. Among them, a British physician, Edward Jenner, succeeded in developing a vaccine against smallpox.

Since the vaccine's

principle was to put

weak bacteria in the body in advance of infection, many people opposed the idea. But eventually, other parts of the world started to use it, and by 1979, smallpox became utterly eradicated from the wild.

How did they impact the world?

The most significant change made by the Black Death is that the differences between classes became smaller. Numerous people died from the plague, and peasants also became scarcer and hence more valuable. They demanded more rights and money against lords who required workers, and the lower classes came to gain power. Also, due to the death of many lords, they became able to use vacant lands. Adversely, the higher classes lost their control because people started to doubt that there is an innate difference between classes and rejected the authority of the upper classes. People began to challenge the Catholic Church, too, which was a trigger of the religion's splintering.

Somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 of the European population died from the disease. Since it killed anyone regardless of whether a noble or a peasant, the wind of change could be blown.

Intermittent waves of smallpox epidemics had wiped out large populations once in a while, but its most significant impact would be during the European colonization. Diseases from Europe caused approximately 90 percent of native casualties, and smallpox was the one that killed most of them. Many North American tribes, like the Incas, the Aztecs, and the Tainos, became nearly extinct. In contrast, the European countries could easily take over the productive lands and amass a big fortune quickly. Because of this, European countries came to face significant changes and developments.

How it impacted humans back then

How it continues to impact humans today

-Many countries improved personal hygiene and contributed to the development of modern medical technologies.

-People started to use cremations rather than burials. Cremations are still used widely.

-There are still cases of the plague in some countries. According to WHO, there were 3,248 cases of the plague reported worldwide, resulting in 584 deaths from 2010 to 2015.

-Vaccine technology was developed to prevent many diseases. Since it is the most effective way to avoid illnesses that don't have therapy, it will continue to be used in the future and help humans maintain their health.

-More medical institutions were built.

-Now, the viruses are freeze-dried and stocked in several labs in the United States and Russia. They are sometimes used for researches.

What if they didn't exist?

If the Black Death didn't exist, feudalism in Europe maybe would exist until today, or possibly Catholic would still be the only religion on Europe to be believed and revered by the Europeans.

If smallpox didn't exist, perhaps there would have been slower development of the vaccine, and consequently, preventing diseases such as measles, polio, and the flu would be much harder.

The Black Death and Smallpox were both terrible diseases that killed countless people. They had caused the world to suffer and grieve, but then again greatly affected medical care, systems, economy, etc. They were indeed violent and horrifying, but without them, the world we are living in might be completely different. No events are meaningless. All humans have to do is to take advantage of these incidents.

Conclusion

WBO Student-smallpox https://www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/article/home/ar515020/smallpox

World history- modern era smallpox https://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/311102?terms=smallpox&webSiteCode=SLN_HMOD&webSiteCode=SLN_HMOD&returnToPage=%2fSearch%2fDisplay%2f311102%3fterms%3dsmallpox&returnToPage=%2fSearch%2fDisplay%2f311102%3fterms%3dsmallpox&sTypeId=2&token=1E6D2AC1C4EE24D44EC6963968147028&token=1E28A8FDC1E56B47AA30D375E7AC3A23&casError=False&casError=False

History of Smallpox | Smallpox | CDC https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html

Gale in context-smallpox https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=6&docId=GALE%7CCV1648500557&docType=Topic+overview&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZMID-MOD1&prodId=MSIC&contentSet=GALE%7CCV1648500557&searchId=R2&userGroupName=cnisbj&inPS=true&ps=1&cp=6

National Geography-smallpoxhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/smallpox/

History-the rise and fall of smallpoxhttps://www.history.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-smallpox

The Week-What was the Black Death and how did it end? https://www.theweek.co.uk/76088/what-was-black-death-and-how-did-it-end

Outbreak- Bryan Barnard

used sources