Lecture Notes: Historical Pandemics - The Black Death

Introduction

• COVID-19 pandemic is a recent global crisis but not the worst in history.
• The Black Death remains the most disastrous pandemic ever recorded.

The Black Death Overview

• Time frame: 1347 to 1351.
• Regions affected: Asia, Europe, Northern Africa.
• Estimated fatalities:
  • Europe: 25 million (over a third of the population).
  • Worldwide: 75 to 200 million.

Causative Agent and Transmission

• Bacteria: Yersinia pestis.
• Hosts: Lived in small rodents.
• Vectors: Fleas that fed on infected rodents and then humans.
• Transmission:
  • Airborne after infection.
  • Direct contact and through contaminated areas.

Origin and Spread

• Origin: China, early 1330s, especially in the province of Hebei.
• Spread via trade routes: Silk Road, infected regions such as India, North Africa, Central Asia.
• 1340s: Mongol attack on Genoan city Kaffa resulted in biological warfare spreading the plague.
• Genoese ships spread it to Mediterranean and Europe.

Impact and Symptoms

• Symptoms: Swelling, black boils, fever, severe pain, vomiting.
• Societal response:
  • Fleeing infected areas.
  • Deserting sick family members.
  • Burning infected houses.

Medical and Social Reaction

• Lack of effective treatments led to reliance on ancient methods.
• Perception as divine punishment led to increased anti-Semitism.
• Decline in faith and medieval Church power.

Demographic Impact

• Urban areas heavily impacted.
• Mass graves, known as plague pits, widespread.
• Population drops:
  • England's population decreased significantly by 1400.
  • Half of Italy's population died by 1350.

Economic and Social Changes

• Decline of laborers led to higher wages and better working conditions for peasants.
• Shift towards monetary compensation instead of land for labor.

Quarantine Practices

• Early quarantine practice was developed by isolating sailors in Sicily.
• Initially isolated for 30 days, extended to 40 days ("quarantine").

Other Pandemics

• Spanish Flu (1918-1920): Estimated 50 million deaths worldwide.
• Black Death remains unmatched in mortality rates.

Conclusion

• Despite unpredictability, modern society hopes to avoid a pandemic with mortality rates similar to the Black Death.