Transcript for:
The Black Death: Impact and Legacy

[Music] in October of 1347 12 ships dropped anchor at a sicilian Port those who eagerly approached were met with a grisly sight almost all aboard were either dead or barely alive their skin erupting with blackened boils that dripped pus and blood in horror the Sicilian authorities demanded that the ship set sail but though they left the damage had already been done the Black Death was now in Europe and millions would die in what is considered one of the greatest disasters in history let's explore how the Bubonic plague wiped out at least a third of Europe's population if not more in this episode of the infographic show what made the Black Death so deadly Europe was hit hard by the plague but it was not hit first it was also not unaware of a disease that was already bringing widespread death and destruction elsewhere before the infested ships arrived in Sicily rumors of a frightful sickness devastating the populations of First China and then India Egypt Persia and Syria had spread near and far while no one knew what caused it or why it seemed to follow trade routes spanning the near and far east further when it appeared it was by all accounts Unstoppable those struck by the Black Death would begin to swell at the lymph nodes located in their groin area or underarm regions the growths would soon develop into large blackish blue egg-sized lumps or for the even less fortunate expanded the size of apples these would then fester and ooze various bodily fluids Beyond this those with the disease could develop any combination of a series of additional symptoms these included fever pain chills sweating upset stomach and diarrhea almost always this was followed by death according to those who observed its effects firsthand all it appeared to take was a brief physical contact with the clothing of someone who was sick to pass the disease onto another though some doctors claimed that it was the spirit leaving the body of the deceased that infected others as it passed by obviously at this point in history the real methods of disease transmission were not yet well understood without understanding it most were helpless to defend against it few areas other than some islands cut off from the rest of Europe by the Sea made it through the pandemic plague free the rest of the population was not so lucky the bacterium infiltrated virtually every European City's defenses and many who appeared perfectly healthy one day could be dead a few days later it was uncommon though possible for someone to survive a week or two before he or she died compounding problems further those with the disease would typically be asymptomatic for the first few days and so no one would be aware that they had caught him this meant that successfully isolating them from the rest of society at this point was all but impossible those who tried the next best thing to protect themselves by fleeing for the country were not safe there either the plague decimated livestock as well and countless pigs cows chickens goats and sheep who also died a brutal death this was such a problem that it led to a shortage of wool throughout the continent while many European areas had a death figure of around 30 percent ninety percent of the Italian City of Florence perished sometimes bodies of the deceased remained where they had died as there were not enough people still living to bury them thousands of French villages in addition to areas and other locations were left without a single remaining Soul the Black Death had mercilessly transformed them into ghost towns in some instances nature eventually took over and areas that people once called home were reclaimed by surrounding forests it took aerial photography following the end of World War One to ReDiscover these locations as places where men women and children once lived most estimates Place Europe's death toll between 50 and 70 million or around 30 some percent though the CDC claims it killed as much as 60 percent of the population which is considerably more worldwide estimates typically range from 155 to 200 million the world at the time was a mere 500 million people so nearly half of all its inhabitants or again According to some sources even more were killed so how was it that the Black Death was able to spread so quickly and wipe out so many people and animals alike well for one as previously mentioned there was little in the way of scientific knowledge in the 1300s not only did people not understand the plague's causes or modes of transmission but there were also countless failures in how those in the medical field attempted to treat it it is true that you're seeing a pestis the bacterium behind the black death or Bubonic plague is highly contagious it can also be spread in many ways though obviously contaminated Spirits aren't one of them many believe that in its later stages it had the ability to morph into an Airborne strain that could be passed on to a new host via a simple sneeze or cough however all strains Airborne or those in the more initial stages that are not are believed to have been transferred through a flea or lice bite and many animals in addition to Countryside livestock serve as hosts for the bacterium and blood sucking pests examples are things like squirrels rabbits Chipmunks and mice however many in the scientific field have argued that by far the worst contributor to the spread of the Black Death was the urban rat and its flea part of the reason for this belief is that rats have been observed to develop symptoms quite similar to those in people and in cases of a modern day plague many people with its sickness had accompanying bites from fleas recent outbreaks often follow what's known as rat Falls as well or where rodents die off in record amounts for whatever reason thus the most prevalent theory is that the Black Death all began when rats with the plague died and their fleas then looked for more blood in another readily available source which would at times be human upon being bitten by the contaminated flea this person would then be exposed to the deadly bacteria seemingly in support of this Theory ships during the mid-1300s were commonly infested with the furry rodents who thrived in their dark moist environment and following the death ship's arrival in Sicily the plague continued to spread further following a trade out pattern as it had previously in Asia two other Port locations throughout Europe and as far down as North Africa however more recently there have been some proposed tweaks to this rat based Theory as we just mentioned the Black Death after all is not the only outbreak of the plague in the world's history there have been outbreaks before as well as after and those that took place more recently followed a different pattern entirely Europe's Black Death spread much faster and as far as historical records are concerned there was no mention of a mass rat die off in the days or months preceding it now some scientists suggest that it was human fleas and lice that were the true culprits behind Europe's version of the disease in this case fleas would bite infected people and then move on to others one by one who happened to be in their nearby vicinity they describe the underlying mathematical model that a rat flea spread follows is quite different from a human flea or lice one and when information is plugged into simulations the human flea model more closely matched data from Seven of Nine plague hit European cities those with this newest evidence admit that the causes of the plague are surrounded by ongoing controversy however whether the fleas were of human or rat variety it's a blood-sucking pest of one kind or another that likely passed it on successfully and so very quickly it also turns out that the Black Death may not have been causing Mass Devastation all by itself when victims bodies were exhumed from Mass graves in England Anthrax spores were also discovered along with them if anthrax was occurring at the same time as the plague this would definitely have made things much worse Anthrax can not only be passed by coming into contact with sweat saliva or tears but also by mere skin contact in other words at the time of the Black Death pandemic people could have come down with a life-threatening disease of one kind or another in pretty much every conceivable way it's possible Anthrax and other diseases made people extra susceptible to the plague due to already compromised immunity also it's possible that the body count of those claimed by the Black Death included victims that actually died from Anthrax or other diseases Beyond its quick transfer from host to host and the contributions of additional disease the way the Black Death was treated failed to help and may have actually helped kill victims or spread it further unintentionally for example at least initially medical practitioners would do things such as perform bloodletting on patients with the play this is where they cut into the veins or arteries in the neck or arms of those who were sick so that their blood flowed freely this procedure was nothing new and in fact dated back as far as to the times of ancient Egypt and Greece historical figures believed that to be healthy the body needed the right balance of blood phlegm and bile bloodletting was believed to correct a possible imbalance of too much blood which is what caused the person to get sick unfortunately the procedure appeared to be as ineffective for the victims of the plague as it was for Charles II or George Washington centuries later while Washington awoke with a sore throat and King Charles suffered a seizure follow following bloodletting treatment both died shortly thereafter Boyle Lansing was another technique used as a form of treatment which was just how it sounds someone would essentially Lance or stick a pointy object into the boils to drain them of their gooey contents if this wasn't done they would only continue to grow larger and in time poison their host due to the mass buildup of dead blood and pus then again popping them could also cause death due to toxic shock beyond the patient likely dying the boils contain highly contagious matter and possibly spread the disease yet further other methods such as burning of various herbs or immersing the sick in vinegar or rose water were also unsurprisingly ineffective in time after failure upon failure and in an attempt at self-preservation many doctors simply stopped accepting patients even priests began refusing to perform last rites out of danger for their own safety where men failed nature did little to help either not only did people have little idea of how to handle the plague but they were genetically prone to succumbing to it studies of the remains of the European population at the time determined that only 0.2 percent had a gene that offered them any form of immunity the other 99.8 percent had none since so many of those who were susceptible to the plague died from it they did not pass their genes on further to the following Generations many of those who did have the gene lived on to procreate this is why Caucasian Americans now have a 15 chance of having some resistance to the disease this is pretty good news considering the modern form of the plague is still around today one encounter via the 12 so-called death ships would go on to wipe out men women and children to such an extent that it would change the tide of History this year in many countries throughout the world the flu has been deadly the CDC reported that in America it has been unusually active and in January was revealed that the virus was killing around 100 people every week in the U.S in the UK they've had the worst flu season in many years but it's also been a global concern with countries all over Asia and Africa experiencing what many are calling one of the worst Global flu outbreaks in a long time so much so that scientists said it's imperative to create a much more effective Universal influenza vaccine we might regard ourselves as fortunate though based on what you're about to hear in this episode of the infographic show could the Black Death happen again don't forget to subscribe and click the Bell button so that you can be part of our notification Squad first of all what is or what was the Black Death also known as the plague well it was one of the worst pandemics in history killing somewhere between 75 to 200 million people in Europe and Eurasia in just a few years from 1346 to 1353 after it was done something like 30 to 60 percent of Europe's population had been wiped out with many others dying in other parts of the world as well in fact it killed so many people it took centuries for the world's population to stabilize it also made comebacks in Europe later on such as the Great Plague of London from 1665 to 1666 but the 14th century black death was the worst pandemic there were world has ever seen in terms of loss of life it's thought it made its way to Europe on genoese trading ships the ships arrived at the Sicilian Port of Messina only for those who came to greet them to be faced with a nasty surprise most of the occupants of the ships were either dead or dying it's thought the ships had been to parts of Central Asia and there it said rats carrying the bacterium yersinia pestis came aboard the ships fleas on these rodents were the vectors that pass the disease to humans authorities in Sicily soon ordered all the Death ships out of the harbor but it was too late and soon people all over Europe were getting infected it spread so easily because it was Airborne which meant coughing or sneezing was enough to spread the disease around so what's it like to get down with a dose of black death during the pandemic an Italian poet called Giovanni boccaccio described it like this at the beginning of the malady certain swellings either on the groin or under the armpits waxed to the bigness of a common Apple others to the size of an egg some more and some less and these the vulgar named plague boils these eggs that he describes are called bubos once they appeared soon after the victim would have a very high fever usually start coughing up blood because of lung infection and between two and seven days it was often game over if you got it you most likely died but not everyone did and true to Nichi and philosophy what didn't kill them made them stronger Studies have found that those who survived became healthier it's believed the plague had a mortality rate of 30 to 75 percent it was a time of chaos as whole communities lived in fear doctors didn't want to treat the infected for fear of being infected themselves while mobs were busy ascribing the blame to any minority such as lepers Jews foreigners or even people with acne entire Jewish communities were destroyed and thousands of Jewish people were murdered you get the picture this was a grim time to be European as we said it came back many times but never as virulent as those years in the 1300s what might surprise you though is that the Bubonic plague is still making appearances around the globe it killed 10 million in China in the 19th century more than one thousand in Australia in the early 20th century and over a hundred in San Francisco also in the early 19th century it's thought that in 2017 around 202 people died in Madagascar from the mnemonic plague according to the who this was from 2348 confirmed probable and suspected cases fewer people died of course because of modern medicine and Health Care by the way there are three kinds of plague bubonic mnemonic and septicemic the difference is in how it infects you with bubonic getting your lymph nodes hence the ugly eggs mnemonic gets the lungs and septicemic is an infection in the blood you can be treated for a mnemonic plague with antibiotics but left untreated you will surely die most modern cases have been in developing nations but there have also been some cases in the USA in fact in 2015 16 and 17 a handful of Bubonic plague cases occurred in the country the CDC reports that more than 80 percent of United States play cases have been the bubonic form it stated that from 2000 to 2016 around seven cases of plague occurred in the country every year and most of those were in the rural West and some in Northern New Mexico and Northern Arizona the worst year this Century for the US was 2015 when 15 people were infected and four of them died also according to the CDC the Europeans are now in good shape with the Department stating that all continents report instances of plague except Europe Australia and Antarctica the advice given by health professionals if you want to stay plague free is don't get bitten by fleas and don't mess with rats or other animals that could carry fleas easier said than done in 2014 a man from Oregon was infected with plague after his infected cat bit him news media reports that he had lumps under his arms the size of lemons his hands and feet turned black due to gangrene and he was in a coma on life support for a month he told the guardian I had collapsed lungs my heart stopped and my hands and feet turned black technically I shouldn't be here he was so violently sick because he had all three kinds of plague his cap didn't fare well and it ended up being buried in the garden before the man got really sick the man lives a full life again minus most of his fingers and toes so now we come to the essential question could there be another massive plague outbreak the answer is that it is very unlikely because we can treat it before it spreads most of us these days don't live in Rat infested squalor as many londoners did back in those Bleak times when the Smithsonian asked the scientist this question he like most other others said an outbreak was unlikely what was possible though was a plague-based bioterror weapon that spreads the disease yes our wonderful species has in the past created plague bio weapons with some of the guilty countries being Japan the former Soviet Union and the United States of America the Black Death surged unstoppably throughout Eurasia for years killing people in painful excruciating ways within days of infection almost no one who caught it stood a chance by the time it was done about a third of the world's population lay dead so how did this deadly widespread contagion finally end Europe in 1347 famines tuberculosis small epox beheadings STDs old age seemed like the least common way for anyone to die at the time even giving birth gave you good odds of ending up in the grave in this time of generally widespread disease and danger no one could have imagined a plague which would undo all the other plagues thus far and was about to make its horrific entrance of course Europeans had heard of the great pestilence that was spreading through the Middle East in Asia however in a situation that thankfully would never be repeated again they just kept going about their business hoping the problem would fix itself before really affecting them and yet One Day undeterred by state lines the Bubonic plague made its European debut 12 ships from the Black Sea docked in the sunny Sicilian Port of Messina and people working on the docks went to greet the sailors and get the cargo that's when they noticed something odd most of the sailors were dead and the few who remained alive were covered in disgusting black boils hemorrhaging blood and pus no one knew exactly what was going on but getting all the ships and boil-covered sailors as far away from Messina as possible seemed like a good call to where they didn't really care Sicilian authorities told the death ships to leave the port unfortunately it was already too late Not only was the Bubonic plague one of the most virulent contagious diseases known to man and thus had probably already spread to some Dock Workers in the brief contact they had with the sailors the flea-ridden rats that had originally infected the sailors had already abandoned the ship scurrying their way right into the cobblestone streets of Messina from Messina the plague spread through Italy up to France Germany and even London within the year even in the time of such slow arduous travel the Black Death tore its way through the continent with unimaginable force and speed between 1346 and 1353 the Black Death killed a higher proportion of the world population than any other singular event in history it killed 25 million people in Europe in a period of four years and over this climax of its spread is estimated to have destroyed 75 million lives worldwide keep in mind this was during a time when the entire global population was estimated to be around 380 million some estimates even put the plague's total death toll higher at around 200 million and global population estimates higher as well however even the minimum death count is horrifying to comprehend it took 200 years for the world to rebuild its population to pre-plague levels we assume part of the reason for the lengthy repopulating process was that seeing boil covered humans and death all around you for years is bound to have an effect on your sex drive but for the world population to bounce back that meant the black plague had to end so how did it did it just run its course or did people start getting better at stopping the spread and fighting it the answer is actually nuanced as is most scientific in medical issues despite what your self-diagnosis with WebMD might tell you many experts have an explanation they favor most but they also agree that the black plague Ended as a result of a combination of factors first of all the extreme deadliness of the black plague proved to be a part of its eventual undoing the disease killed so many people so quickly that at some point it ran out of victims when the Bubonic plague struck a person they quickly fell grievously ill symptoms included fevers of 100 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit nausea vomiting severe joint pain and headaches the most unique symptoms of the plague were abubos that gave it its name large egg-shaped boils that oozed pus and blood Charming people who usually fell ill became confined to their homes and died within three to eight days over 80 percent of all those infected died thus the odds once you caught the disease were not great this is why highly deadly pathogens have a way of wiping themselves out a disease that kills so many so fast eventually reduces its own chance of spreading and therefore surviving at some point there were literally just not many people left to kill and not that dense a population to work through eventually when people wised up to the fact that staying away from the sick would help them survive see the second reason the plague ended was because people started trying to prevent its transmission doctors initially had no good advice to give the population this was a previously unknown disease and also most doctors at the time thought that leeches helped the depression unless Gwyneth Paltrow is your medical professional we generally expect better medical advice in treatment these days for an example of doctors opinions about the disease during that era one plague doctor stated his belief that instantaneous death occurs when the aerial Spirit escaping from the eyes of the sick man strikes the healthy person standing near and looking at the sick he wasn't exactly wrong about the ease of transmission and the fact that the Bubonic plague could be spread via the air but his reasoning as to how and why was uh suspect however despite the horrific state of medicine at the time people eventually realized that the more they came into contact with others the more likely they would be to catch this deadly nudity so people started escaping the big dense cities of Europe and going to the countryside however the plague carried by fleas on rats and livestock followed them out there as well so more stringent measures were taken store owners closed up shops and stayed home priests wouldn't administer last rites doctors refused to see patients and given our previous statements this was probably for the best and cremation became extremely popular in order to both minimize the existence of plague-carrying bodies and also save space as corpses quickly filled up Mass Graves tragically people were even forced to leave their sick and suffering family members behind to have a shot at escaping the plague Thomas mokitis a history professor at DePaul University explains that people had no real understanding of how to fight it other than trying to avoid sick people that's why in Italy where the disease had first infected Europe they decided to start a new practice in the Venetian controlled Port City of Ragusa incoming Sailors were kept on their ships in isolation for 30 days eventually the isolation period increased to 40 days which in Italian was called quarantino this led to the origin of our current word that we've become way too depressing familiar with quarantine the practice worked as incoming cases of Bubonic plague were greatly reduced even with quarantine procedures however what was to be done about the fleas and rats transmitting the disease these two animals still carried the bacteria known as your Cena pestis that spread the plague well most European cities decided that greatly improving their sanitation procedures would help in this regard as it does in most regards actually it turns out that the cleaner a place is the less fleas and rats tend to congregate there as most students discover after freshman year in their college dorms people also strive to improve their personal hygiene which help to keep even more fleas at Bay again we're unsure why this wasn't a thing before but apparently people learning to wash their hair more than once a month was the tiniest of Silver Linings to the horrific Mass death of the plague so the deadliness of the plague itself combined with quarantine procedures and better sanitation helped curb the spread of the Black Death what was the final factor that helped put a stop to it in 2010 researchers collected DNA from Mass Graves of black plague victims and found that the DNA of the bacteria was vastly different from the current form of the play it was a far deadlier strain of the disease as we said before highly fatal pathogens must eventually find a way to be less deadly in order to keep their own reproduction going so the evolution of bacterial DNA helped lessen the deadliness of the bacteria but that's not the only way DNA transformation helps stop the plague it turns out human DNA mutations also helped it lose momentum apparently a certain DNA mutation that has been shown to help protect against HIV in humans today first appeared in a widespread way in the population in the 1300s the most likely reason a widespread fatal epidemic the disease didn't cause the mutation it simply disproportionately affected those without it leading more of those with the mutation to pass down their genes a combination of all these factors stopped the plague in its tracks unfortunately people at the time also tried to end the black death in several ill-advised and horrifying ways many believe the plague was in fact God punishing the population for their sins therefore they would have to demonstrate repentance and Devotion to God in order to escape the curse for some reason some believe the best way to do this this was to hunt down and kill anyone they deemed sinful or heretic when these people ask themselves what would Jesus do their answer apparently was Massacre large groups of people especially Jewish populations demonstrating that they clearly missed the entire point of their religion other less terrifying but equally ineffective remedies involved doctors telling plague patients to bathe in rose water or vinegar to help cleanse the disease out this worked about as well as anyone would expect which is to say not at all turns out rosewater does little to stop bacteria with an 80 kill rate though the Black Death peaked in the years of 1346 and 1353 it by no means went away after that smaller outbreaks would research for hundreds of years with the last notable one being the Great Plague of London in 1665. some believe the Great Fire of London in 1666 helped put a stop to the disease's spread as it burned many of the rats and fleas carrying it but most historians and medical experts dispute that story however this last big iteration of the disease did Inspire the well-known children's nursery rhyme ring a ring of roses londoners thought holding a posey of flowers up to their nose would help protect them from the plague this explains the lyric pocket full of posies a tissue a tissue we all fell down refers to people falling ill and needing tissues and then dropping dead the original lyrics in fact were We All Fall Down dead in case you needed further proof that the original versions of children's stories and Rhymes were all deranged today the bacteria that caused the Black Death still exists but it's now treatable with antibiotics about seven cases of Bubonic plague are reported in the U.S every year and around one thousand to three thousand worldwide mostly on the African continent meaning you have a higher chance of dying by a lightning strike than the plague these days what if the last thing you saw before death was the terrifying bird mask of a plague doctor it would be a horrifying sight but the person wearing it was just trying to help you in fact knowing why the plague doctors wore the beak mask and if it worked could save your life from the next pandemic let's start out with one of the crazier aspects of the plague doctor's outfit there was one piece of the costume that was just as important if not more important than anything else the plague doctors included a wooden rod in their uniform normally tied onto a belt this was used to poke plague victims to see if they were still alive but it also served another more brutal purpose the rod was also used to defend the plague doctors from people who might try to overwhelm them imagine a frantic group of people who are terrified in pain and dying they would seek any help they could even if that meant assaulting a plague doctor for his medicine or attention this may seem counter-intuitive for the victims to do but when everyone around you is dying Common Sense goes out the window and sheer Terror takes over the plague doctors would sometimes have to use their poking Rod as a means to defend themselves they would Club plague victims who started pulling at their suit and tried to get too close to him it was a dangerous job being a plague doctor but someone had to do it the plague first traveled across Asia and Europe via the Silk Road the first recorded outbreak was the plague of Justinian which killed up to 10 000 people a day during the year 561 the next outbreak which would become known as the Black Death happened in the 1300s and wiped out a third of Europe's population you may be surprised to learn that the iconic suit that we associate with these outbreaks actually wasn't around during this time period at all it wasn't until the 17th century that the plague doctor costumes were introduced to the medical world would the flight doctor's iconic suit have made a difference during these earlier pandemics what about the pandemics of today in order to uncover the answers to these questions we have to know the real reason Physicians wore plague suits and masks the plate doctor outfit may have had its beginning not in medicine but in comedy the outfit itself could actually have gotten its start in the theater but then was adopted later by doctors to protect themselves from the plague the first representations of the plague doctor outfit came from satirical writings and political cartoons so the terrifying mask that can haunt people's dreams may have originally been used to make people laugh the use of the plague doctor outfit is normally credited to Charles DeLorme who is a physician that had treated the Royals of Europe including King Louis XII in his writings he described the flag doctor's outfit as a long coat covered in scented wax leggings long pants that connected to boots shirt that must be tucked in and a leather hat and gloves Moroccan leather was the preferred material for the plague doctor's outfit including the mask so what was the real reason for the costume it did serve a purpose but due to a lack of medical knowledge of the time it wasn't as effective as plague doctors had hoped Lauren described the shape of the Mask as needing to be half a foot long shaped like a beak filled with perfume and only two holes one on either side near the nostrils but that can suffice to breathe and carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the herbs enclosed further along in the beak jammed into the long beak of The Masks were different flowers perfumes and exotic substances this wasn't just to counteract the bad smells of rotting corpses and human excrement the concoction inside the masks was for something else something that you'll probably find rather crazy it was believed that the time that the plague was spread through bad air this was called the miasma Theory basically what physicians at the time thought was illness such as the plague were passed from one person to the next from noxious forms of bad air which was also known as night air the deadly poison would come from the Rotting Flesh of the bodies both alive and dead once in the body the noxious air would throw off a person's bodily fluids and auras or what were known as humors during the time period the symptoms of diseases were attributed to a person's body being out of balance which could lead to death therefore the plague doctors needed to protect themselves from the bad air and this was done using the beaked masks that we associate with plague doctors The Masks themselves were not enough though specific herbs and perfumes needed to be stuffed into the nose of the Mask to separate the two small holes at the end of the Beak from the face of the doctor the holes were vital so the doctor could continue to breathe while wearing the mask and the herb concoction was important to stop the miasma from reaching the doctor's nose and mouth The Masks would be filled with what was called theriac which was made up of more than 55 different herbs and other compounds some of the more exotic ones were Viper flesh powder cinnamon nose gaze and honey the long length of the bird mask allowed enough herbs to be packed in to provide time for the bad air to be dealt with before it entered the plague doctor's lungs the mask also contained openings for the eyes so the plague doctor could see glass coverings over the holes were required to protect the eyes from The Poisoned air basically the mask and everything the plague doctors wore were to protect the body from Bad Air connected to the miasma theory in some ways this was helpful as the outfit served as a barrier from the actual harbinger of death that caused the plague bacteria The Mask itself wasn't meant to be scary so much as functional but what about the rest of the plague doctor suit was there some special purpose to the long coats and brimmed hats the answer is yes it was to keep the plague doctor's body as contained as possible from The Poisoned air around them the clothing was also covered in different fragrances to protect the body from miasma we now know that it wasn't the bad air that was causing the plague but a bacteria called yersinia pestis the bacteria was spread through flea bites contact with contaminated bodily fluids and inhalation of water droplets from people who coughed or sneezed that were infected the interesting thing is although the flight doctor's outfits were not designed with the bacteria in mind they actually did provide some level of protection when completely decked out in the plague suit the Redundant layers of clothing in The Mask would keep distance between a doctor and a patient protecting them from bodily fluids and contaminated water droplets obviously the protection was minimal and it could always have been infected by a flea that got into their suit or when they weren't wearing it but the real reason the plague doctors were their iconic suits was to protect them from the miasma around the plague victim and keep their body from coming into contact with the bad air so how effective were the plague doctors themselves who were contained within the masks and Suits well as we know from history they were not very good that was because the lack of medical knowledge at the time stood as a roadblock to their success they did try to give antidotes and medicine to victims although none of these remedies were effective one of the most common forms of treatment was giving an infected person the same theoriac concoction that plague doctor stuffed into the beaks of their masks to help them breathe in clean air the victims of the plagues suffered terribly before many eventually succumbed to the disease plague doctors had to deal with patients who had swelling of the lymph nodes that would often rub picture causing blood and pus to seep out of the wounds the infected will also have high fever chills vomiting diarrhea and be in a lot of pain the messiness associated with the plague allowed the bacteria to spread rapidly as most people didn't know what precautions to take or how useful good hygiene could be by wearing their multi-layered leather suits and long masks the doctors were able to at least protect themselves from certain forms of transmission of the plague while they treated victims around Europe but treating the infected were not the only thing the plague doctors did during the 17th century these Physicians were also responsible for being the witnesses of Wills as people died in the thousands they would do this while wearing their plague suits to protect themselves this may be one of the reasons the iconic image of plague doctors became associated with such horrifying nightmares the suit was so closely connected with death and everything that went along with it that it became ingrained in people's minds the plague doctors were also responsible for performing autopsies again those lucky enough to be donning their plague suit at the time of inspection were given some protection from the infected corpse which is better than and no protection at all today plague doctor masks are stillborn throughout Europe and in different celebrations such as Mardi Gras other Carnival celebrations especially in Italy often use the plague doctor suit as a Comedia Del art although we often associate the elongated mask of the plague doctor with death and Terror its Origins may have been more comedic which is how the masks are most often used today what we can learn from the plague doctors in their iconic suits is that just because something looks interesting terrifying or funny does not mean it can protect you from a disease we can follow the advice of medical professionals and scientists during the course of a plague or pandemic to keep ourselves safe given what we know today about infectious diseases the plague doctors would have most likely swapped their bird masks and potpourri for surgical masks and antibiotics from the nation that brought you the Black Death the SARS outbreak of 2002 and the swine flu pandemic of 2018 comes the year's newest hottest plague the deadly coronavirus of 2020. it's a new year and a new decade which means only one thing nuke you new pandemic but what in the world is the new coronavirus ravaging China and now making landfall in the United States a coronavirus is a catch-all term for a virus that infects the nose sinuses mouth and throat SARS for example is a coronavirus that made the leap from animals to humans and pretty quickly went mainstream on a tour of the southeast Asia region most of these viruses are limited to giving you mild cold-like symptoms but others like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and the infamous SARS can actually be deadly this new outbreak of a coronavirus got its start in the city of Wuhan one of China's largest cities with a population of 11 million it was just a small town virus with dreams of living a big city life and soon it had infected dozens of wuhan's residents though the real number is impossible to estimate given the flu and cold-like symptoms of the virus what became immediately obvious though was the fact that this virus was Far deadlier than the cold or the flu and the elderly were at particular risk the first victim of the coronavirus was a 61 year old man who died on Jan January 9th this was followed by the deaths of two more on January 15th and 18th the fourth man to die was an 89 year old man admitted to the hospital a day earlier with severe breathing issues from there the death toll continued to climb reaching 25 deaths due to the virus the World Health Organization convened to discuss measures to protect the global population from a possible pandemic But ultimately decided that the virus was not virulent enough to Warrant an international emergency despite this China has instituted an unprecedented lockdown on Wuhan and other affected cities enacting a travel ban that's now affecting approximately 33 million people the lockdown is seen as critical given the fact that the Chinese New Year was pending at the time of the lockdown and authorities feared the spread of the virus across the rest of China and Beyond the authoritarian Chinese government was perhaps better suited for locking down entire cities than other world governments but the Restriction of information regarding the virus has angered many Chinese citizens in a bid to not create a panic over the virus the Chinese government has kept story out of its state-run media as much as possible and Chinese citizens afraid for their health and angry with their government have turned to social media to try and inform themselves because social media isn't exactly the number one source for fact checked information many Chinese citizens have in fact panicked exactly the way the Chinese government had tried to prevent in the first place with the information blackout the American CDC has responded to the coronavirus outbreak by screening passengers at five of the nation's largest airports who come in on flights from known Chinese contagion sites the service has developed a field test that can tell if a person is infected and is hoping to spread that knowledge with International Partners in a bid to help combat the potential epidemic while the American government is not considering a ban on travel to affected Chinese cities it has issued a level 3 travel alert the highest possible warning travelers to consult with their Physicians and take all possible precautions to avoid infection while in affected areas the news of the first American infection though May soon change the government's mind as a passenger aboard a flight from China was diagnosed with the illness in Seattle Washington the passenger was quickly quarantined but it was determined that they'd come in close enough proximity to at least 16 other unnamed individuals before being discovered at the time of this episode's writing an American college student studying at Texas A M University was suspected of having been infected which might mean that hundreds of other students were also exposed by the time this episode is Live on YouTube you're probably watching it from an underground bunker somewhere as the virus has decimated humanity and the survivors are forced to flee the surface and avoid Extinction all we could say is hey it's been a wild ride thanks for the likes and shares but how do you know if you're infected and harboring a potentially civilization destroying virus the virus is Airborne meaning it can be transmitted via coughing or sneezing directly onto another person the exact transmission methods are still unclear though a Chinese victim spread it to 14 Hospital workers while being treated symptoms of this new coronavirus include coughing sore throat chest pains typical flu or cold symptoms this makes it difficult to ascertain if what you've caught is the hottest new deadly disease or just a boring old cold Advanced symptoms though include extreme difficulty breathing intense chest pain and a loss of Greater intellectual functions followed by an appetite for the human flesh okay fine there are no confirmed zombies yet but we just say give it time the real question though is are you even at risk of being infected well if you're living in China then yes you definitely are but infection is only seen as a serious health risk if you happen to be elderly and with a compromised immune system like many other diseases the virus is a greater threat to the sick and old of a population or so we used to think because a stunning new development has turned that assumption on its head on January 23rd a completely healthy young Chinese man who is living 1500 miles from the outbreaks epicenter became the 26th victim of the virus as the virus continues its Rampage Chinese hospitals have become overcrowded supplies have run low and doctors are reaching their breaking point to add to Chinese tensions the government has canceled all Temple fairs and festivals in many Chinese cities in order to limit large crowds and the spread of the disease in a bid to quell fears the Chinese State broadcaster aired footage from a large Spring Festival banquet in Beijing attended by President Xi Jinping and top Communist Party leaders because if there's anything that reassures a panicked public it's showing top government officials enjoying a nice banquet while the Public's own festivals have been canceled and they can't check into hospitals because they're overcrowded the virus has now spread well outside of China's borders and is popping up in Thailand Taiwan Japan South Korea Vietnam the U.S and Singapore given the wide dispersion of the virus it's only a matter of time until it spreads across the rest of the world and while officials have not been too concerned until now the death of a formerly perfectly healthy young man has many reconsidering the threat to the world's population today's episode is sponsored by audible get a free audiobook with a 30-day trial today by signing up at audible.com infographics go to audible.com infographics or text infographics to 500 500 to get started how will you die no one knows but it's a chapter in our lives we will all reach someday it could be from an illness an accident or if you're fortunate enough you might pass away peacefully in your sleep when you're old and ready to but what about something completely different an unconventional death that's out of the norm that's what we'll be exploring today in this episode of the infographic show death by dancing in July 1518 the residents of the city of Strasbourg which at that time was part of the Holy Roman Empire were struck by a sudden uncontrollable urge to dance the whole episode started when a lady known as Frau trofea went into the street and began to shake her stuff she kept up her silent solo dancing routine for nearly a week and as she continued to dance Her Moves became infectious with other people soon joining in at the end of the first week 34 others were jigging Along by trophy aside and it was clear that dancing was not going to stop the numbers quickly grew and within a month the dancing epidemic had claimed 400 new individuals twisting turning hopping and leaping on the Strasbourg streets local Physicians were baffled but they somehow came to the conclusion that the phenomenon must be due to a condition known as hot blood and their remedy to fix this fever was more dancing those infected needed to shake the illness away so a stage was constructed professional dancers were brought in and the town hired a band to provide backing music but the rigorous dancing routine did nothing to cool the resident's blood and instead had the opposite effect many of the dancers collapsed from exhaustion and some even died from stroke or heart attacks this bizarre episode carried on into September meaning some had danced their socks off for a full two months eventually the dancers were taken away to a Mountaintop Shrine to pray for absolution it seemed only God could fix this crazy dancing disorder the Strasbourg dancing plague might sound like an imaginary Tale But it's well documented in 16th century historical records and surprisingly it's not the only case of this strange epidemic similar incidents took place in Germany and Switzerland but nothing near the scale of the case at Strasbourg in 1518. what could have led the people of Strasbourg to dance themselves to death according to historian and Michigan State University professor John Waller who authored a paper on the topic the explanation is most likely connected to Saint Vitus Saint Vitus was a Catholic saint whose 16th century Europeans believed had the power to curse people with this dancing plague but it was not just the curse of the saint that set the town to jiggle disease and famine were both prevalent in Strasbourg at the time and the heightened anxiety of the sick individuals may have triggered the superstitious belief of the Saints curse in Waller's book A Time To Dance A Time To Die the extraordinary story of the dancing plague of 1518 he says that the event took place is Undisputed Waller explained that historical records documenting the deaths from the plague such as Cathedral sermons physician notes local and Regional Chronicles and even notes issued by the Strasbourg city council are all unambiguous on the fact that the victims danced these people were not just trembling shaking or convulsing although they weren't entranced their arms and legs were moving as if they were purposefully dancing he said another theory suggests that the community of dancers might have ingested ergot a toxic fungus that grows on damp rye and causes spasms and hallucinations the same substance used to manufacture the psychedelic drug LSD Waller's Theory seems believable but then how could people dance for days when disease and famine had engulfed the town where did they get their energy from sociologist Robert Bartholomew from Australia's James Cook University proposed a different theory that the dancers were performing an ecstatic ritual of a religious sect but Waller responded there is no evidence that the dancers wanted to dance so maybe Waller was right the death dance was a phenomenon known as mass psychogenic illness a form of mass hysteria usually preceded by intolerable levels of psychological distress that caused the dancing epidemic after all according to Wikipedia seven other cases of the dancing plague were reported in the same region during the Medieval Era and one in Madagascar in 1840 and there were also other strange plagues which back up the psychological elements of Waller's idea including a laughing epidemic that went on for 18 months in Tanzania so death by the dancing disease occurs from a cruel Saint or people tripping out on LSD we may never know the truth but dancing to your deathbed may not be the worst way to say goodbye another very interesting epidemic that happened in 1918 was the sleeping sickness it's Monday March 11 1918 at a military training facility in Kansas called Fort Riley around 26 000 young men are stationed there and on that particular day a mess cook named private Albert gitchel woke up feeling like hell he had high fever his throat was sore and his body ached all over the man went to see a nurse and indeed the guy was burning up he had a temperature of 103 degrees soon after get chill one Corporal Lee Drake visited the nurse with pretty much the same symptoms Sergeant Adolf hervey was next to join the line and that line would keep getting longer and longer was get your patient zero that's a matter of controversy but more and more sick American soldiers at camps all over the country would head to battlefields of Europe all hell was about to break loose before we get to just how devastating this flu was in view of what we just told you you're probably wondering why it was called the Spanish flu and not the Kansas flu well as to where the flu originated it's been studied by many researchers for many years in 1916 to 1917 in France hundreds of thousands of soldiers passed through a certain Hospital Camp in France their military Pathologists reported a flu-like disease that had a high mortality rate one Theory and a serious one at that is that the disease spread from the poultry at the camp into the pigs and then to the humans other researchers have postulated that it started in Austria or China or in some parts of East Asia or indeed the USA it might have been imported to Europe or originated in Europe and that discussion is still going on the reason we call it the Spanish Flu is merely because Spain's media wasn't heavily censored during wartime and so that country's newspapers made it look like Spain neutral in the war was the worst hit country of all which wasn't true the name seems to have stuck though though it should be called not the Spanish Flu this deadly flu traveled fast and it's estimated that around 27 percent of the world's population of 1.8 to 1.9 billion people got infected it's hard to get the exact numbers and the estimates vary widely but it's thought that the death toll of this flu was at least 50 million and maybe as much as 100 million that's more people than died in World War one around half a million people from the USA died from the flu and what's surprising is that young adults from their 20s to their 40s were the worst hit to put that into perspective for you in 1917 the life expectancy in the U.S was 51 in 1918 it had dropped to 39. the theory of why the the virus seemed to kill more people who you could say should have had the strongest immune systems those in the prime of their life is that a similar flu pandemic can happen some decades earlier but that flu wasn't quite as lethal the survivors of that flu may have developed an immunity and so when the Spanish Flu came around they dealt with it better as for not getting the very young people the theory is the flu had less effect on them there's another reason the healthiest people died and we'll get around to that soon the Spanish Flu was virtually in every part of the world in India an estimated 17 million people died around five percent of the country's population in the Dutch East Indies around one and a half million people died 390 000 Japanese people succumbed to the deadly disease in Britain 250 000 flu deaths were reported and in France four hundred thousand people died in Iran the number of people that died was between nine hundred two thousand four hundred and two million four hundred thirty one thousand some smaller rural communities were the worst hit in terms of death ratios and that's because they tended to live in closer confines for example in German Samoa ninety percent of the population came down with a Spanish Flu 30 percent of adult men died as did 22 percent of adult women as well as 10 percent of the children few places in the world were not hit by the flu and that's because they were so remote for example Islands in Fiji in the South Pacific called the Lao and yasawa Islands had no cases as did Margo Island on Brazil's Amazon Delta some parts of Alaska were also spared the horrors of the pandemic we're not going to spend an entire show on the death toll estimates from all over the world because that would take up all the time and we're sure by now you understand that the Spanish Flu wrecked Havoc across all four corners of the globe and was one of the most terrifying things that happened in the 20th century but let's talk about how it spread so fast and why it couldn't be contained well for one thing infected soldiers living in close quarters and often terrible conditions didn't help matters and neither did the fact that those soldiers were traveling far and wide the war was a World War and it involved many countries some with Empires and many colonies it's believed that there was a first wave of the flu but the deadlier second wave spread so fast because of wartime troop movements this is how one historian put it the entire military industrial conflicts of moving lots of men and material in crowded conditions was certainly a huge contributing factor in the ways the pandemic spread the first wave was not so bad more like a seasonal flu one might get these days but that second wave was fearsome especially when reports came in that young healthy people had come down with a fever and then were dead within 24 hours how could that happen well in some cases the patient would first have a very high fever next would come nasal hemorrhaging and pneumonia their lungs would fill with fluid and they would literally drown in that fluid doctors at the time were not aware of what was happening some British doctors said the state of the deceased lungs were so bad that chemical warfare had to be to blame we now know that there's a condition known as cytokine explosion this is basic basically an immune response from the body to help a person when he or she has been attacked by a virus but there can be an over reaction and when the body sends too many of the messenger proteins called cytokines this can create an explosion the downside to this is inflammation and that fluid buildup in the lungs we just mentioned this might also be the reason that mostly people in their 20s to 40s died because their really strong immune systems caused the biggest storms of cytokines their body overreacted now let's let you listen to the words of a U.S Surgeon General who witnessed the site of hundreds of young soldiers entering a hospital all suffering from the Spanish Flu this is how he described the scene they're placed on the cots until every bed is full yet others crowd in their faces soon wear a bluish cast a distressing cough brings up the blood-stained sputum in the morning the dead bodies are stacked about the morgue like cord wood back then the doctors didn't know what the virus was and they weren't equipped with electron microscopes to study the virus these days doctors do have those things and they know how to isolate a virus and because of that they can look at its genetic sequence and then attempt to create antiviral drugs and hopefully come up with a vaccine in 1918 when all the troops from around the world were mixing together and going back to their hometowns there was no such technology on top of that when people showed early signs of the disease and moved it about in public it was hard to test them and so they weren't quarantined as they would be now humans are now very good at estimating where a virus will spread and so can isolate various places now there's something called Contact tracing which basically means Health authorities looking at who's been close to someone who's been infected and then testing those people to see if they got it the healthcare workers now will wear protective equipment and the public will have daily updated knowledge on what they can do to stay away from the disease or at least do the right thing to reduce their chances of getting it none of that happened back then and there was no way workers could just choose to work at home or people could go on the internet to find the latest news as we said most immediate during the war including that the U.S the UK and France were not reporting the spread of the deadly disease because it didn't look good for the war effort Spain did most of the media reporting and if you hadn't done your research you'd think this flu originated there we should say this though the authorities did know that people spread disease to other people that much was obvious to anyone Europeans and most of the rest of the world knew all about pandemics and that infected people should be kept away from healthy people in Britain during the war the chief medical officer of the local government board Sir Arthur News home knew very well that a lockdown could help prevent further spread of the disease but that was out of the question because of the war effort those Munitions factories in many other Industries just could not stop research shows he knew what was happening but he encouraged the British to just carry on with what they were doing in his own words he said the Relentless needs of warfare Justified incurring the risk of spreading infection you can't just blame Britain for this the world was at War and countries weren't about to start quarantining large parts of their populations that didn't mean that people weren't warned to avoid busy places and some stores in the USA were at least closed signs hung on the door warning of the spread of this deadly influenza and Japan and Australia people were photographed in the streets wearing face masks you can even find news reports from back then of Boy Scouts handing out leaflets to people they'd seen spitting in the streets of New York City on those leaflets the words written were you were in violation of the sanitary code but in the USA there was a huge nurse shortage and those nurses were needed to take care of influenza sufferers since there were no drugs to combat the disease instead they gave the soldiers baths enough bed rest aspirin whiskey cough syrups and they gave them clean bedding and hot soup when you come down with the flu this kind of care can be effective nine thousand trained white nurses were sent to Europe to help the six soldiers and thousands more worked in U.S military camps but there just weren't enough of them given the size of the population more American soldiers died from the flu during that war than they did in battle there were African-American nurses ready to go help the war effort but because they mostly graduated from small segregated Hospital training schools they were not utilized where American soldiers and civilians had the flu and this was sheer Madness and not something that could ever happen in our modern world but it's just another reason why the Spanish Flu was as deadly as it was it was the same in the civilian hospitals in the U.S which were also packed with flu victims Black nurses for the most part were denied entrants this is what the U.S National Institutes of Health wrote about that as a result by August 1918 civilian hospitals were left with minimal staff not nearly enough to meet the demands that would follow when flu patients flooded into Hospital Wards after the war ended the American Medical Association wrote that now there was a new challenge in the world and that was infectious disease it called this the greatest enemy of them all at the end of 1918 the cases just kept dropping until it seemed the Spanish Flu pandemic was almost over one theory is that medical professionals became better at dealing with it but it's more likely that the strain of the disease just mutated into something much less lethal it wasn't until Midway through 1919 that the Spanish Flu pandemic was said to be officially over other flu pandemics would come but none as deadly as the Spanish flu it's actually sometimes called the Forgotten pandemic maybe even some of you had never heard of this devastating outbreak the reason it was forgotten of course was because it happened during one of the bloodiest Wars in history we don't want to worry you and there's no doubt that medical science and Global collaboration efforts would ensure nothing so deadly in the world of flu viruses could happen again we now have antiviral drugs antibiotics respirators specialized intensive care units and we have information that flows fast and free we can track the spread of a virus and we now have the ability to contain viruses and we also have people working on vaccines working at the SCP Foundation has never been an easy job but through a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears you've been able to work your way up from being a lowly intern to being a fully fledged member of the found station science team sometimes the work can be tough after all most of the scps under your supervision are direct threats to humanity one SCP you never thought you'd have a problem with was zero four nine also known as the plague doctor scp-049 is usually Cooperative even sometimes sharing the findings from his research with the science team but today he somehow breached containment and worse still he seems to have a problem with you according to 049 you've been infected with the pestilence what does that mean why is that so dangerous and what can you do to get this monstrous medieval medic to take a chill pill and go back to his cell without incident it'll be a tricky task but it's doable this is you versus scp-049 the plague doctor first let's take a look at what you're up against in a physical sense the plague doctor is a humanoid entity roughly 190 centimeters or six foot four inches tall his imposing stature is only Amplified by his appearance as the name suggests he appears to be dressed in the thick robes hat and beat mask of a medieval plague doctor he's usually seen carrying an old-fashioned doctor's bag that seems to contain an infinite number of surgical tools at the time of his capture he also wielded a large cane similar to the kind used by plague doctors to examine patients from a distance although this cane was eventually confiscated by Foundation personnel as is standard procedure for any possessions of anomalies that could potentially be used as Weapons unlike many scps the plague doctors not only highly intelligent but capable of being reasoned with which is a huge point in your favor scp-049 speaks in a variety of languages but his preferences are English and medieval French when he was first discovered in the town of multiple in France he willingly went into Foundation custody this SCP is generally very cooperative and reasonable particularly with Scientists as he considers them to be his peers as fellow men of medicine in containment he is regularly provided with corpses on which to perform experiments and after he completes them he's often eager to discuss these findings with staff this cordial relationship makes the plague doctor a very manageable prisoner but don't be fooled his interactions with staff must be closely monitored due to his high intelligence as well as naturally intimidating Aura scp-049 can be very persuasive to anyone not mentally prepared for an encounter with them if you aren't careful you might end up being convinced to say give him a human subject for his experimentation which is strictly forbidden by his containment guidelines or as was evidently the case today he might just be able to convince you to let your guard down and let him out of containment so the first line of defense against this SCP is to simply not give him a chance to appeal to Your Ego or engage you in any kind of Mind Games someone less familiar with this SCP might think that letting him out isn't a big deal other than being a creepy super smart humanoid with a magic bag full of strange surgical tools he doesn't seem actively malicious what's the harm in giving him a bit of Freedom well scp-049's polite attitude has one very important exception if he decides a person has been infected with pestilence he'll become incredibly aggressive toward them now you've worked with the foundation for a while so you know the basics of how scp-049 behaves when scp-049 singles you out from your team you suspect he may have seen you exhibit some kind of symptom but you know he's generally a creature that can be appealed to with logic when you notice scp-049 becoming hostile in your presence you might try and show them your vaccination records to try and prove that you aren't suffering from any sort of pestilence however that's unlikely to work you see nobody can quite figure out the criteria that 049 has for what pestilence is and he has so far refused to explain himself in interviews with the foundation staff in fact 049 gets extremely annoyed if the subject is ever brought up calling the foundation doctor simple-minded amateurs for not being able to Intuit what the pestilence is or what the symptoms are so even if you're all up to date on your measles tetanus rabies and hepatitis shots and your most recent Foundation issue covid test came back negative scp-049 won't find that sufficient proof that your pestilence free what what does scp-049 do to people that he decides have been infected well as he does consider himself a doctor his stated intention is to cure people and that's good but by curing them we actually mean he kills them and that's bad scp-049 can kill with a single touch and Foundation Personnel have yet to conclusively find out the exact cause of death in any of 049's victims the most important rule when it comes to surviving a run-in with scp-049 is to dress for the occasion scp-049 can kill anyone instantly just by touching their skin and if that wasn't bad enough he's also incredibly fast able to close the distance between you and him in a matter of seconds you're no Usain Bolt so there's probably no way that you'll be able to outrun him so the best way to prevent your sudden death is by wearing thick clothing that leaves as little skin exposed as possible as a member of the science team your lab coat and glove should do nicely keeping your skin safe from unwanted toxins is after all what they're designed to do tie a scarf or something similar around your neck to protect your throat and if possible cover your ears and face with a beanie or ski mask and if you aren't already wearing them it might be wise to change into jeans thick socks and closed-toed shoes it might be tricky to track all these things down without leaving the office but trust us it's essential to surviving an scp-049 containment fridge his lethal touch is so potent that any Exposed Skin at all will put you at risk if you can donning a full Foundation issue has Matsu definitely wouldn't be an overreaction before killing a person that he deems infected with pestilence scp-049 will Begin by asking typical questions that any doctor would ask a patient about their medical history then with frightening speed he descends on his victims to deliver his lethal touch sometimes killing the person is enough for scp-049 to consider them cured but other times it doesn't have the effect that he was going for scp-049 will show remorse for the killing lamenting the fact that the pestilence is still present in some way in his patient and this is the point where his treatment gets a little more complex and a lot more weird if if you thought being instantly killed with a single touch was bad you'll really hate hearing about what happens afterwards if the person killed by 049 is decided to still have signs of pestilence scp-049 will produce a variety of surgical tools from the doctor's bag that he carries and begin performing surgery on the dead body the tools used in this surgery vary from scalpels and forceps to a variety of vials and syringes full of fluids that the SCP calls the essence of the four humors the four humors in case you aren't aware were a concept popular in medieval European medicine the idea is that the body contains four fluids or humors blood phlegm yellow bile and black bile and that an imbalance of them is what causes sickness the idea has obviously been disproven since but given that 049 resembles a medieval plague doctor and claims to have originated in the 15th century it makes sense that this idea of treatment would align with medieval beliefs and theories once the corpse has been dissected and had its humors thoroughly equalized the process that usually takes several days it may then animate them as a Mindless shambling zombie known in the foundation as an scp-049-2 this doesn't always happen but when it does it's always bad news even though scp-049 considers these reanimated people to be cured he does admit that it isn't a perfect cure but thus it sounds like a pretty big understatement indeed instances of scp-049-2 retain no memories or higher brain function and while there are normally docile they can become very aggressive if provoked or if scp-049 directs them to attack while 049 obviously prefers to practice his cure on human beings most instances of 049-2 that you would encounter in the Foundation Building would be animals scp-049 is given animal corpses to experiment on once every two weeks these animals are most frequently livestock particularly cows but scp-049 also has experimented on other animals including an orangutan that he was ultimately unable to revive though they behave in an erratic and sometimes violent man enter 049-2 instances are like most Classic Movie zombies relatively easy to put down there's no evidence in Foundation documents to suggest that anything more than Conventional Weapons is required to dispatch them once dispatched the corpses should be taken to be incinerated as soon as possible as for scp-049 himself while he's a terrifying and imposing figure if you can avoid his zombified minions and deadly touch it's surprisingly easy to get him back into containment sedatives have been proven to work on this SCP and are part of the standard protocols for transporting him from place to place getting a needle through scp-049's thick leather-like hide may be somewhat difficult especially under duress so you might want to consider administering the sedative orally scp-049 doesn't technically require any sustenance but he has been seen to enjoy food and believes that eating helps him keep in the right frame of mind to practice his experiments so if you can bribe him with a snack you might be able to sneak the sedatives in that way some of scp-049's favorite foods include salt melted pork crackers and hard cheese so if you can figure out how to hide a pill in any of those go right ahead and give it a try additionally tests have also shown that the application of lavender has a calming effect on this SCP much like it sometimes does on humans lavender contains a compound called linanowol a type of alcohol that can produce an anti-anxiety effect when inhaled the effect of Lanana wool is apparently heightened in the case of scp-049 because in the scp's dossier Lavender is the first recommended method for subduing it once he's been sedated or otherwise subdued a locked collar restraints in a pair of armed guards are all that's needed to transport him back to containment so if you've followed all these guidelines you'll be perfectly equipped to survive an encounter with scp-049 the security team is brought in but as scp-049 is subdued and led back to his containment cell he gives you a final cryptic warning you're denying yourself salvation from the one true sickness that plagues the world of men if you do not allow me to Advance my research it may be too late to save all those who have been stricken with those words the enigmatic and terrifying plague doctor is placed into restraints and escorted back to his cell the armed guards locking the door behind him after this encounter the protocols are changed to discourage any further contact between staff and zero four nine the day continues as normal and as soon as you clock off your shift you decide it might be high time to organize a checkup with your regular doctor just to be safe germs they're everywhere and they're always trying to kill you right now as you sit at your computer or watching on your phone all matter of deadly germs are crawling all over you your hands your chest your face in your mouth there's nowhere they can't reach right this second you have a 25 chance of carrying deadly staphylococcus bacteria of staph infection infamy luckily for you though much like your own farts your staph bacteria are generally harmless to you but staph bacteria from another person can give you a deadly infection and if you're wondering where it lives well that answer is pretty much everywhere to include your skin eye nose and mouth generally though it's bacteria that doesn't normally live on the human body that's deadly and throughout history mankind has been decimated by all forms of plagues but what were the deadliest plagues in history Native Americans smallpox back in the 15th century Europeans who weren't Vikings discovered the new world and shortly after the discovery they made friends with the Local Natives and nothing bad ever happened after that just kidding Europeans very quickly got to work on their favorite historical Pastime subjugating and brutalizing Native populations this time though they had some extra help in the form of all manner of bacteria and viruses that Native Americans had never encountered before back when Healthcare consisted of draining bad blood out and then dying of the resulting infection smallpox killed about one in three Europeans who got infected Native Americans however had little to no resistance to the disease and thus when they made contact with Europeans the disease very quickly decimate mated Native American society it's believed that between 1500 and 1900 European diseases killed up to half of all Native Americans and most of that was purely by accident it wasn't until the 1800s that the U.S Cavalry got the idea of handing out smallpox infected blankets to Native Americans who were stubbornly settling on the land the U.S had rightfully claimed thousands of years ago when man first arrived to North America but forgot to tell everyone about it cholera pandemic cholera is one of those diseases that just never goes out of style it's a die-hard classic a real crowd pleaser and to date there's been seven told cholera pandemics throughout human history the deadliest however is considered to be the third which struck between 1852 and 1860 for thousands of years mankind paid little attention to the quality of its drinking water and for nearly all of human history literally nobody saw a problem with having your sewage run right next to or into your drinking water supply this worked out great for all matter of diseases who took advantage of the terrible sanitation to wreak havoc on mankind cholera is one such disease and during its third outbreak it's believed that it started its World comeback tour in India with the Ganges River being one of the most important in the world as far as human settlements are concerned it has long been one of the most polluted in 2011 a report on the water quality of the river revealed that the water contained 1.1 billion fecal bacteria per 100 milliliters that's about half a million times the recommended bathing limit add to that the practice of cremating corpses directly on the banks of the river and India's huge population of which a large amount believe it's a sacred experience to bathe in the poop filled River and it's little surprise that cholera has frequently struck the region during the third outbreak though cholera first struck in India then spread to Afghanistan and slowly across to Russia where it killed an estimated 1 million people from Russia it made its way way to Europe and to Africa finally landing on the shores of America ansanine plague back in 165 A.D Rome had about 200 good years left in her and the plague that struck her from 165 to 180 A.D is believed to have hastened her downfall today nobody knows exactly what disease struck the Romans as back then doctors were just as likely to feed you Mercury to cure your cough or give you Mercury for your back pain seriously those guys loved Mercury and it's little surprise so many prominent Romans were crazier than a barrel of angry monkeys with an estimated death toll of 5 million whatever plague struck the Romans it was clearly devastating and symptoms included fever diarrhea and inflammation of the throat in some cities up to one-third of the population succumbed to the plague and today historians believe that the culprit was either measles or smallpox luckily today we don't have to worry about either of those two devastating diseases thanks to vaccines except yes we do because because anti-vaxxers have refused to vaccinate their children leading to Modern outbreaks of diseases mankind had all but eradicated third Bubonic plague if cholera is a classic the Bubonic plague is a downright golden oldie if you've seen our previous episode on the black death you'll know that this disease is caused by a nasty little bacteria who likes to take over your lymph nodes and then literally makes your body kill you in 1850 Chinese Prospectors and entrepreneurs flooded the Western Union region in search of minerals and ores soon the population had exploded to over 7 million and this created the perfect conditions necessary for the plague to revisit Humanity plague infected fleas were soon biting all manner of people acting as the primary Vector between the yellow-breasted rat and humans when Han Chinese and Hui Muslim miners got into armed conflict over the mineral wealth of the area the plague exploded onto the scene thanks to the displacement of huge populations due to armed conflict the plague made its way East toward China's Shores there it would kill 100 000 people in Hong Kong and sixty thousand in Canton aboard trade ships the disease made its way to India where it would go on to kill 10 million over the next 30 Years it would kill another 12.5 million on a bright note the restrictive actions of the British government in trying to contain the plague would Foster much of the discontent that would later lead to an Indian independence movement plague of Justinian 400 years after the antonine plague rats in a grain shipment from Egypt brought the deadly Bubonic plague back to Europe in 541 A.D half of the population of Constantinople then the capital of the Western Roman Empire died to the plague and from there the disease spread across Europe incredibly historians believe that the Bubonic plague actually prevented the rise of a new Roman Empire as it weakened the Western Roman Empire so severely that it was unable to triumph over the Goths and reunite the Eastern Roman Empire with the West into a new Roman Empire after killing between 25 and 1 100 million across Europe and Asia the plague once more faded though it would return sporadically until the last outbreak in 750 A.D as if killing hundreds of millions of people throughout history wasn't bad enough we also have the Bubonic plague to blame for the failure of Constantinople to reunite the Roman Empire and there's no telling what the world of today might look like if a unified Rome had averted the Dark Ages HIV AIDS ask anybody who grew up in the 80s what the most feared acronym they ever heard was and they tell you without hesitation it's AIDS a disease originating in Africa it first struck the Civilized World in a major fashion in America where it was initially identified in homosexuals this unfortunately led to the stereotype that HIV or Aids was only a gay disease and thus a lack of safe sex techniques between heterosexuals quickly led to the disease infecting Millions around the world today 600 people a day contract HIV and in some parts of Africa as much as 15 percent of the population is infected as of of 2017 39 million people already have died of HIV out of 76.3 million who have been infected thanks to safe sex practices and education infection rates have finally slowed and the world seems to be on the other side of the peak of the HIV pandemic though not by far new treatments offer ways to cope with the disease and even prevent its outbreak from HIV into AIDS but these treatments are expensive and the populations that need them the most poor third world individuals simply can't afford them a failure to treat these vulnerable populations inevitably leads to infections across the rest of the world thanks to our modern interconnected World standing for acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIDS is a condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV AIDS can take years to manifest but when it does it's characterized by hiv's aggressive attacks against the immune system destroying white blood cells and T cells which help fight off infections your immune system is constantly working to keep you healthy and our environment is swarming with all manner of harmful bacteria viruses and fungi which are looking to turn you into a snack without your immune system working properly AIDS leads to death from all matter of secondary infections and unless treated early is almost certainly fatal Spanish Flu at the end of World War One Europe was in a sorry State the Warhead ravaged the countryside and displaced millions of people Food Supplies were low and clean drinking water was rare add to that huge numbers of dead and the concentration of wounded still being treated in makeshift hospitals and you had conditions ripe for a pandemic despite having nothing to do with Spain or at the Spanish the Spanish flu struck soon after the end of the war and appeared almost simultaneously in Boston USA breast France and Freetown Sierra Leone thanks to Air and Ocean Travel the flu virus spread around the world yet the flu virus was not a particularly different strain of the same flu you might catch today all flu viruses mutate over time but despite what people initially thought this was not some superbug the poor Santa military conditions the concentration of wounded troops in massive field hospitals and poor nutrition for wartime populations had instead created a world just ripe for the flu to become truly deadly the most at risk were the young and elderly but with so many combat wounded and malnourished civilians the flu is thought to have killed between 50 and 100 million the Black Death to date there has been no epidemic more deadly than the black death or the Bubonic plague though it should be noted that the disease had struck many times before it went to Blockbuster in 1347 arriving from The Plains of Central Asia where climate change was forcing infected rodents into human population centers the plague quickly spread from Asia Westward toward Europe leaving a trail of Devastation in its wake across the Islamic world the Black Death killed Millions after arriving in Egypt from Constantinople all told the outbreak killed between 75 to 200 million people and it took Humanity two whole centuries to recover the lost numbers the disease in inflamed major tensions across various social groups and shortly after the plague receded in 1353 major violence against minorities in Europe exploded as everybody from gypsies to Jews were blamed for the seemingly Supernatural plague on the bright side though the plague killed so many people that it created a massive labor shortage and this left Nobles without enough peasants to work their lands with the bargaining chips firmly on their side the peasantry was able to use the value of their labor to demand better wages and living conditions laying the foundations for many of the major labor movements that would redefine European and world history in later centuries without the black plague and its deadly impact on Humanity modern labor movements that brought us the two-day weekend sick days paid vacation and other perks we enjoy and expect from jobs today may never have existed better wake up pretty soon or you might never wake up said Henry Johnson to the soldier next to him he had just heard something rustling in the darkness of the forest it was late at night in the wind blowing through the tree may have been playing tricks on his senses but Johnson swore he had heard rustling in a clipping sound as if someone was cutting the wire to the perimeter fence Johnson forced the man next to him awake and began lining up grenades to defend the Outpost that was when the enemy rifles began firing from all around Johnson grabbed a grenade pulled the pin and threw it only a few days prior he and the rest of the 369th U.S Infantry Regiment were sent to Outpost 20 on the western edge of the Argonne forest and Francis Champagne region the American forces refused to use the 369th to their full potential for one reason and one reason alone the soldiers were all black the French on the other hand had no problem accepting help from the all-black regiment they welcomed the soldiers of the newly named Harlem Hell fighters to their ranks this was the first step that led to Johnson and his partner Needham Roberts being surrounded by an enemy German Squad they'd been assigned Century Duty on the night of May 14 1918. their job was to keep Watcher with the main Supply bridge in the region it was vital to the more effort that the bridge not succumb to enemy sabotage Johnson and Robert shift was about to end the two Replacements were walking toward them to take over Johnson saw the young inexperienced soldiers in a wave of worry washed over him he could not in good conscience leave these two Soldiers by themselves it could mean death for both of them and destruction of the bridge Johnson convinced Roberts to set up a secondary Lookout nearby to keep an eye on the new recruits and to provide backup if needed Johnson took the first watch Roberts drifted off to sleep that was when the rustling sound began as the sound continued to get louder Johnson decided he needed to be ready for anything he grabbed extra rifle cartridges and set them up for easy access next to the grenades it became silent the only sound was the wind rustling the leaves of the forest trees then there was a loud crack as the first shot was fired quickly after the initial shot other guns began firing on The Outpost from the forest Johnson began screaming at Roberts to fire back and throw grenades at the perimeter Roberts grabbed grenades from the stockpile Johnson had made they could not make take out any enemy soldiers yet but they continued lobbing the grenades in the direction of the sounds Johnson had heard whenever they spotted the muzzle flash of a rifle being fired they returned fire in that direction it was impossible to tell if they were hitting anything but the Hope was to hold out until help arrived unfortunately it would be a long time before reinforcements were sent there was a lull in the firing Johnson and Roberts waited sweat dripped from under their helmets dirt covered their faces from where terrain had been kicked up by enemy bullets they peered over the top of their trench to see if they could spot the enemy a platoon of shadowy figures seemed to manifest themselves at the tree line there were dozens of black Shadows at the perimeter fence a voice shouted in German and a horde of soldiers flooded through the cut wiring toward Johnson and Roberts the enemy soldiers had their rifles lowered with their bayonets pointed straight toward the two hell Fighters the light from the fires created by the grenade explosions reflected off the German bayonets as they charged Johnson picked up his rifle and began firing into the oncoming wave of enemy soldiers as they ran the German Unleashed a volley of bullets toward Johnson and Roberts and the chaos Johnson yelled for Roberts to go get help but before he could Roberts took pieces of shrapnel from a grenade in his arm and hip he was incapacitated but still conscious now Johnson was the only one capable of fighting off the German forces he needed to protect Roberts in The Outpost he was the only thing standing between the Germans and the French front lines he was a one-man Army Johnson continued to throw grenades Roberts handed the explosive devices to Johnson in an attempt to help his partner in any way he could but then Johnson threw their last grenade all he had left was his rifle and knife Johnson began firing at the Germans slowing their advance to do this he had to make himself vulnerable to enemy fire he was hit by bullets in his side hand and head blood trickled out of his wounds but Henry Johnson had no time to feel pain all of his attention was on one thing killing Germans in the chaos of battle Johnson grabbed an American cartridge and shoved it into his french-made rifle the two were not compatible the rifle jammed Johnson was left without a working firearm the Germans noticed something had gone wrong the hell fighter who had been repelling them this whole time was no longer firing they took advantage of the moment and swarmed the holdout of Johnson and Roberts but Johnson refused to give up and die without a fight he grabbed his rifle by the barrel and used the butt of the gun as a club as the German soldiers tried to overtake him Johnson swung his gun relentlessly smashing it into the heads and faces of the German soldiers with each swing German blood and teeth flew across the battlefield Johnson was Lethal even without bullets and grenades he protected Robertson himself from the enemy using his makeshift Club suddenly a massive German Soldier came at Johnson he gripped the barrel of his rifle tightly with both hands he swung the rifle back like Jackie Robinson preparing to hit a home run while the German Soldier was only a few steps away he swung the butt of the rifle connected hard with the enemy's head the extremely powerful blow caused the rifle to break there was the sound of cracking the wood of the gun had splintered into a thousand pieces the rifle fell apart in Johnson's hands the Germans must have felt relieved that this hellfighter finally was weaponless now they could take him as prisoner or kill him but Henry Johnson had other plans a German soldier took the stock of his gun and rammed it into Johnson's head causing him to stumble and fall to the ground the enemy probably thought this was the end but Johnson refused to give up he climbed back to his feet reached down to his side and Drew his bolo knife he grabbed the first German Soldier he could find and plunged the blade deep into the man killing him Johnson became a deadly crazed man with a large knife mud covered his face his uniform had been torn to shreds blood poured out of wounds all over his body a rage filled Henry Johnson that fueled him to protect his partner in The Outpost at all costs he began slicing and hacking every German soldier in his path it was him versus the entire German Squad fear filled the eyes of the enemy as the Unstoppable force that was Henry Johnson plowed through their ranks the German soldiers continued to strike and fire at him but nothing seemed to slow down the Black Death that was upon them out of pure fear the German forces began to pull back Johnson pulled his knife out of one of the German soldiers bodies and looked around the enemy had grabbed Roberts and were pulling him back toward the forest Johnson would not let them take his brother in arms he ran full force into one of the German soldiers knocking him down to the ground he slashed and stabbed the others who were holding Roberts forcing them to let go Johnson put his body between the Germans and his partner if the Germans wanted to take Roberts they were going to have to go through him the enemy soldiers ran away the battle between the Germans and the one-man Army who came to be known as the Black Death continued for almost an hour Johnson saw an opportunity to kill a lieutenant which may have caused the Germans to go into full Retreat he ran toward the enemy slashing his way past soldiers using his bolo knife Johnson was slowed down by a bullet entering his arm the soldier took advantage of this and jumped on Johnson's back but the black death would not go down he flung the German Soldier off his back and drove the knife into the man's ribs he then continued fighting through the German line in the Mayhem he found his Target and killed the German Lieutenant finally support arrived French and American soldiers ran to the aid of Johnson seeing the force the German soldiers went into a full Retreat the battle was over the one-man Army of Henry Johnson had won Johnson and Roberts were both immediately given medical attention the next day as the sun rose on outpost 20 scavengers circled in the sky waiting for their turn on the battlefield military officials could not believe what they found pools of blood soaked the Earth German helmets and discarded weapons littered the Battlefield Four bodies were left behind but due to the amount of blood and German equipment on the ground officials estimated that Johnson had wounded at least 10 to 20 other Germans Henry Johnson had prevented an entire German force from advancing through the French line single-handedly Johnson had suffered 21 different wounds from the battle but he did not give up and he survived the bridge where the battle had been fought was renamed the Battle of Henry Johnson this is when he was officially given the name the Black Death after he awoke in the infirmary he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant due to the extent of his injuries Henry Johnson was sure to be sent home to recover before he left the front lines the French awarded him the Kroger one of France's highest military awards Johnson and Roberts were the first two Americans to ever receive this award after the war Henry Johnson and the rest of the Harlem Hell Fighters would take part in a parade going up Fifth Avenue in New York City they were greeted by Massive crowds all cheering for them leading the 3 000 troop parade was Henry Johnson in the Cadillac convertible still recovering from his wounds he was sitting in the car waving to the crowds the onlookers chanted OU Black Death as Johnson rode by when the parade finally arrived in Harlem the gathered masses went into hysterics as they cheered for the Hellfighters unfortunately racism was still prevalent during the first world war along the parade route there were also designated white sections and colored sections where onlookers could stand also the Harlem hellfinders could not March alongside their white counterparts even Henry Johnson was still treated as a second-class citizen even though he was a hero it would be decades before the Civil Rights Movement would begin a battle for equality that we're still fighting today Henry Johnson was declared one of the bravest Americans to fight in World War One by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1996 President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Henry Johnson the Purple Heart then in 2015 President Barack Obama awarded him the Medal of Honor Henry Johnson was truly a hero in a one-man Army if you ever want to celebrate him you can head to Albany New York on June 5th where every year they celebrate Henry Johnson day in acknowledgment of the day he enlisted you've been feeling pretty lonely lately so you decide that it's time to get yourself a pet but you don't want to be too mainstream about it so instead of a nice dog or a cat you opt for a rat hey rats can be cute too you know you and your rat Wilbur quickly become best of friends but then one day your best rat buddy picks up an unwanted hitchhiker a flea then Wilbur's flea decides that it'd like to take a chomp out of you and without you even feeling it the tiny flea has bitten you and sucked on your blood for the next three days you and Wilbur continue your best friendship going on best friend adventures and solving Mysteries together and then on the fourth day you start to not feel so hot you chalk it up to all the excitement you and Wilbur have been sharing lately but as the symptoms progress you start to feel like you might have the flu instead then suddenly you start growing what look like huge blisters in your armpits and groin and the tips of your fingers turn black as the flesh begins to die congratulations because you've got the Bubonic plague and much like most of Europe back in the 1300s you're about to be dead the plague or Black Death as it was most commonly known has its Origins amongst the fleas of rodents from the Central and Western Asian region of the world it's believed that climate change during a period of warming during the Medieval ages caused the rodents who carry the infected fleas to flee the drying up grasslands while those rodents who didn't believe in climate change stayed behind and died forced into close contact with Humanity the fleas of these rodents began to Feast on our soft supple human flesh and in return infected us with the plague historians believed that the plague killed off many early populations of humans before naturally receding but what would come to be known as the Black Death kicked off in Earnest early in the 1300s a secession of natural disasters and lesser plagues hit South in Central Asia which led to widespread famine not wanting to be left out of the Kill All Humans party the Bubonic plague arrived in 1331 and is believed to have killed 25 million Chinese people before it finally reached Constantinople in 1347. Mongol raids and travelers along the famous Silk Road are believed to have pushed the disease further and further west but it wasn't until genoese Traders brought the plague-infected fleas into the port city of Cafe in Crimea in 1347 that the Bubonic plague went mainstream pretty soon the Black Death as it was known by then was all the rage amongst Europeans and by 1351 it had reached as far west as Spain and as far north as Russia before the Black Death went out of style it had killed between 75 to 200 million people and it's believed that it took the world 200 years to recover the numbers lost to the disease in the wake of the plague zealous persecution of various scapegoats blamed for the outbreak led to the death of many thousands more including Jews Friars foreigners Beggars pilgrims lepers Gypsies and people who get to the front of the line at Starbucks and have to check the menu because they still aren't sure what to order the plague had such a good time in Europe though that it Revisited the continent intermittently throughout the 14th and 17th centuries causing many hundreds of thousands of additional deaths in 1771 the plague hit Moscow and killed between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand people or as much as 33 percent of the City's population a hundred years before that the plague killed 100 000 in London like adventurous European University students though the plague went Global and between 1500 and 1850 the plague was present in at least one location throughout the entire Islamic world so you've just gone and gotten yourself infected with the black death because maybe modern diseases are just too trendy for you why is this the worst thing that could ever happen to you well first could it happen to you the answer to that question is no Humanity has long since overcome the terrible Affliction known as the Black Death and is safe from the ravages that once killed hundreds of millions of people just kidding you can totally get the Black Death today and if you think you're safe in your first world life because surely it's only a disease that strikes at the most remote poorest regions of the world you may want to think again as if 1900 the Black Death has made its way to the United States when an epidemic struck San Francisco and lasted until 1904 then quickly made a comeback throughout 1907 and 1908 while that was over a hundred years ago and we have developed many drugs and treatments for the plague just in October of 2017 the deadliest outbreak in modern times hit Madagascar and killed 170 people while in affecting thousands more but that's an island off the coast of Africa and San Francisco was over a hundred years in the past surely we're safe today once more no absolutely not and in fact the western United States is one of the largest Geographic areas where the plague is reported in wild animals and livestock alike so keep that in mind next time you decide to hit up a petting zoo but what about the plague is so terrible well before we tell you we'll warn you to go ahead and finish eating if you were eating or to cancel any lunch or dinner plans you may have had coming up because we doubt you'll have the appetite after this episode it starts off with a flea bite or perhaps a bite from an infected rodent and then suddenly your body is host to a nasty little bacteria called yersinia pestis our bodies however have had plenty of exposure to the plague by now seeing as yersenia pestis's favorite historical Pastime was to murder all humans and so the body has learned to very quickly recognize why pestis from a unique molecule in its outer membrane unfortunately sometime in the past yersenia pest is caught on to this fact and now when it detects a temperature of about 98.6 degrees the bacteria figures that it's inside a warm-blooded mammal this triggers why pestis to modify the structure of the giveaway molecule effectively blinding your body's immune system to its real identity with your immune system fooled why pestis makes a Mad Dash for your lymph nodes which seems like an odd choice for an invading bacteria because your body's lymph nodes are basically immune system fortresses and constantly looking for foreign Invaders to wipe out for any other bacteria this would pretty much be a suicide run but why pestis is basically the Seal Team Six of bacteria your body immediately tries to stop the bacteria with white blood cells the cells responsible for immune system response but why pestis responds by shooting these responding cells with an appendage that injects toxins directly inside the cell's membranes destroying it after owning the crap out of your immune system why pestis needs to recover by getting a hold of some iron and luckily for it your body is chock full of it unfortunately for the bacterial that precious iron in your body is wrapped up in hemoglobin and other proteins or unfortunate for you really because if you've learned anything by now it's that why pestis gets what it wants when it wants it while it holds the fork down in your lymph node each bacteria releases a molecule called Garcinia bactin which is a very high affinity for iron the molecules cruise through your blood system on the lookout for a specific iron-rich protein in your body called transferrin once the molecules find some transferrin they literally rip the iron away from the protein destroying it in the process and bringing it back home to Why pestis by now the plague is happily making your lymph nodes into its new home kicking up its feet and replicating out of control thanks to a rich supply of iron at this point you're definitely feeling under the weather with General flu-like symptoms but if you're like most people you ignore these symptoms and push through without going to a doctor in this case your failure to get checked out will be fatal as with modern medicine the plague can be cured in over 90 percent of cases if are early if not well your odds aren't very good at all at this point your lymph nodes will begin swelling up which create the iconic bubbles so characteristic of the Bubonic plague these look like very large blisters and can appear on the arms leg groin and armpits can grow to be as big as an apple by now you're going to have a really high fever and might even be vomiting blood and if any of those bubos burst open you'll be oozing pus and other disgusting fluids from the open source this can be extremely dangerous because bubos that are burst open can lead to secondary infections from other bacteria but luckily for you you'll be dead long before any of those infections can properly set in gangrene can also set into extremities and fingers and toes can blacken as the flesh dies and eventually falls off incredibly it's not the plague that kills you though but rather your own body that does the deed with why pestis bacteria throughout your bloodstream your immune system totally loses its cool and triggers a condition known as septic shock causing your blood vessels to leak which lowers blood volume spotting and eventually organ failure luckily though modern medicine is able to cure a plague if caught quickly enough though many doctors today worry that the plague will very quickly begin to develop an immunity to most of the drugs we use against it this is prompted a renewal of the arms race that has lasted for Millennia between man and bacteria and its hoped that new vaccines and antibodies can be developed to stop the plague before it kicks off another world tour and leaves Millions dead in its wake where in the past the remote nature of most human Villages and cities made it difficult for the plague to be transmitted and thus limited its lethality today's hyper-connected world would let the plague travel around the world in as little as a day and an outbreak that started far overseas could be in your neighborhood by that evening in fact it might already be there and we might all be on the verge of the next huge outbreak do you love strange unexpected stories that defy belief but are completely true then you'll love the new show I am fascinating Tales told from the perspective of those who lived them find out what it was is like to be a plague doctor during an outbreak of the black death or the captain of the Titanic as it sank into the sea each episode you'll jump Inside the Mind of a new person and get a first person view on incredible events like no other new episodes every week be one of the first to subscribe now and tell us who you want to see brought to life in I am the Black Death killed around one-third or 25 million people in Europe during the 1300s this is a staggering number which is why the Bubonic plague was once the most feared disease in the world the crazy thing is that the Bubonic plague is still around today approximately seven people are infected with the black death every year in the U.S and it gets worse people in parts of the world without access to medical supplies are getting sick and dying from the bacteria that causes the Bubonic plague as you watch this video but where did the Black Death actually come from this is a mystery that scientists have been trying to solve for centuries now an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute in German Germany has Tracked Down what's likely the origin of the black death and their conclusion might shock you the Bubonic plague is created by a bacteria called yersinius pestis it's a nasty microbe that most often gets into a body via a flea bite and immediately seeks out the lymph nodes where it wreaks all types of Havoc originally people thought the Bubonic plague was caused by rodents such as rats but it wasn't the rodents themselves that infected the people it was the fleas that hid within the hair that were to blame when a flea carrying the yersinia pestis bacteria bites a human the bacteria gets into the bloodstream where it's carried throughout the body the bacteria has a defense mechanism that allows it to fight off white blood cells so it can continue on to a lymph node without being destroyed it's here that the bacteria begins to reproduce the incubation period in the disease is somewhere between two to eight days at which point the bacteria have multiplied to dangerous levels and the body's lymph nodes begin to swell into painful bubos this is where the Bubonic plague derives its name the lymph nodes as well as a result of the bacteria multiplying uncontrollably and hijacking the body for their own purposes the infection begins to spread throughout the body which results in the host becoming incredibly sick the immune system tries desperately to control the infection but since the lymph nodes have been compromised it overreacts this is actually the main cause of death associated with the Bubonic plague as the bacteria spreads from the lymph nodes into the bloodstream and around to the rest of the body the immune system kicks into high gear and the body goes into septic shock the blood vessels begin to leak fluids which decrease blood pressure and the amount of nutrients carried to vital parts of the body abdominal clotting can develop while main organs begin to fail which eventually leads to death the most horrendous part of the Black Death is what happens to the body itself the lymph nodes swell to incredible sizes this occurs most often in the armpits groin and neck normally they become around the size of a chicken egg as the infected nodes push against the skin while the lymph nodes swell the infected person develops a high grade fever as the immune system definitely tries to do everything it can to kill the bacteria this nasty disease killed millions of people during the 1300s when the plague began and continues to do so even in the present so where did it come from and how did the Black Death reach Europe the Middle East and North Africa where it decimated the populations of those regions of the world until recently most researchers believed the Bubonic plague originated in China or East Asia it was thought to have been brought to the West Via the Silk Road and trade routes across the continent however researchers recently discovered that the bacteria actually originated in Central Asia in what is now Kyrgyzstan the team believes that they've pinpointed the origin of the bacteria that started the Bubonic plague not just to the country but to a specific set of villages using archaeological biological and chemical evidence scientists were able to trace the plague causing bacteria back to Lake isakur located in the northeastern part of Kyrgyzstan the first clue that led researchers to this discovery was the archaeological evidence from the sites of Karachi gach and Burana which are located in the lake isak cool region they indicated that an epidemic swept through the local trading Community sometime between 1338 and 1339 based on the analysis of the Tombstones found in the area several of these grave markers stated the cause of death was pestilence or disease the fact that so many of the area died of an unknown disease right before the Bubonic plague pandemic in Europe was a good indicator that the Lake isakul Region might have been the origin of the Black Death most scholars believe that the plague in Europe began to take off around 1347. the researchers from the Max Planck Institute explained that the time between the outbreak in Kyrgyzstan and the black death in Europe can be accounted for due to the fact that the disease had to evolve into multiple different strains before the pandemic could begin the bacteria also needed to find a way across the Asian continent to Europe and North Africa it most likely found this path aboard stowaway Rats on trade ships and Caravans one of the most deadly plagues the world has ever seen might have star started with a single Flea on a single rat traveling west from Kyrgyzstan once the rats with infected fleas made it to the Mediterranean they likely spread their fleas to other rodents which then carry the infection to the rest of Europe but this is all just circumstantial evidence and guesswork the researchers needed more evidence to support their Theory luckily they found it in the bones of long dead villagers from the karajigachin barana sites in the Lake isaku Region after the skeletal remains of people at the sites were carefully dug up they were sent to the lab for further analysis when biologists sequenced the DNA of each individual they found something surprising human DNA was not the only genetic information stored in the bones as the sequencing came back scientists found there were remnants of bacterial DNA as well the researchers had a hunch that yersinia pestis might have been responsible for the deaths of the seven individuals they analyzed at the lab but they couldn't be 100 sure then they found the Smoking Gun or at least part of it the bacterial DNA was fragmented it might have belong to an early form of yersinia pestis but there just wasn't enough information to come to a definitive conclusion then the scientists caught a brick as they continue to analyze the bones recovered from the archaeological site they came across a second bacterial DNA fragment it adds some of the same sequences as the first strand that they found but also contained fragments that they were missing the geneticists analyzed the strands together and compared them to yarcinia pestis the results were shocking when the two bacterial strands were sequenced scientists found they belonged to the same type of bacteria the DNA indicated that the bacteria present was a common ancestor to the strains of yersinia pestis that eventually evolved and proliferated during the time of the Black Death the New Evidence solidified the theory that the Black Death didn't originate in the Far East but right there in the lake is a cool region of Kyrgyzstan the puzzle pieces were falling together this was the earliest genetic archaeological and historical evidence of the Bubonic plague ever found researchers knew the dates and the cause of death on the Tombstones were not enough evidence to definitively prove their Theory but by combining the inscriptions artifacts and genetic information recovered from the sites they could confidently say that the initial strain of yersinia pestis that later would become the Bubonic plague originated in Kyrgyzstan the researchers made it clear in their final paper that the Lake isakua Region was not where the pandemic itself started or where the bacteria evolved the strain of yersenia pestis in Kyrgyzstan is the earliest ever found that can be directly traced to all the different variants that arose during the Bubonic plague pandemic of the 1300s the exact strain that evolved in the Lake isakua Region was not the one that swept through Europe however it was most certainly deadly as was evidenced by the trail of bodies left behind at the archaeological sites of karajigacha and barana without this strain of yersenia pestis evolving in the early 1300s the Bubonic plague would likely never have spread throughout Europe the Middle East and North Africa it was the bacteria from Kyrgyzstan that had the ability to hide within fleas and evolve as it was carried across the world when the bacteria found its way to the more densely populated regions of Europe it thrived like with all pathogens every time it found a new host and started reproducing there was a chance it would evolve into something stronger and more deadly this is exactly what happened the different strains of yersinia pestis were able to infect huge numbers of hosts who then carried the illness with them across trade routes and back to their families once you're sitting a pestis got into the city's and densely packed trading ports of the Mediterranean there was no stopping it the Bubonic plague spread like wildfire and since there was no modern medicine in the 1300s and no one had any idea what caused the disease millions of people perished today we have antibiotics that can kill yersinia pestis and cure anyone who's infected by the Bubonic plague however not all parts of the world have access to these medications which means people are still dying from the Black Death even today the pharaoh of Egypt had kept the Jewish people enslaved for Generations but now the oppressed had a leader Moses raised in the Egyptian court and until he fled and now returning to demand the freedom of his people the Pharaoh refused and Moses warned him that he would pay a terrible price according to the Hebrew Bible God would prove him right ten times over the story of the ten plagues of Egypt is one of the most famous stories in the Bible and one of the most hotly debated many people believe it's a true story of God's Wrath coming down and exacting Vengeance on a slave-holding Empire others are skeptical saying it's all a fable meant to make the Jewish escape from Egypt more dramatic but others come up with another explanation the ten plagues may have happened causing chaos in Egypt and facilitating The Escape of their slaves but although the plagues had a scientific explanation that would be explained as God's Wrath which is the truth and what were those 10 horrible plagues number one blood God worked through Moses and Moses his staff seemed to be enchanted so for his first dramatic Act of punishment upon the Egyptians Moses raised his staff and struck the Nile River and spreading out from his staff the Crystal Water of the Nile was transformed into thick red blood it doesn't get much more dramatic and terrifying than that but the consequences were far more dire the Nile is the second largest river in the world supplying water to most of Egypt as Egypt at the time was heavily agricultural this could easily starve many of the crops and devastate the food supply for the entire country the fishing industry would be devastated as fish can't breathe blood and would soon die off additionally the aqueducts would go dry and put countless people at risk for dehydration water is essential for life and while this first plague might seem more dramatic than deadly it was actually striking at the very heart of Egypt's economy and Society turning their most valuable resource against them but was there another possible explanation for this there's no way to know what the actual composition of the Nile was during this period today if a river turned to blood scientists would be testing its chemical contents within minutes once everyone had stopped screaming of course but in ancient Egypt all the people knew was that the river had mysteriously turned red and undrinkable this is actually something that happens naturally and it might be worse than turning the blood because the most common cause for a blood red river is a phenomenon called red tide this is what happens with red algae bloom occurs as microscopic algae grows in such huge numbers that it changes the color of the water surface but it's more than just a disturbing visual the water builds up in shellfish and poisons the fish that eat them causing Mass numbers of dead fish to Bubble to the surface when the quantity is high enough it can also launch air-based toxins causing a horrible stench in making people around the water sick sounds scary enough for ancient people to assume it was a river of cursed blood comparing that to the second flag seems almost quaint number two frogs maybe it was God's day off maybe add a bit of writer's block because he followed up a literal River of blood across all of Egypt with a whole lot of frogs according to the Bible the second plague consisted of the Nile teeming with frogs so many that they invaded the homes of the Egyptians looking for anywhere to hide they crawled into people's ovens and troughs making it annoying if not impossible to do their daily chores not even the palace was safe the Pharaoh himself had them crawling all over the throne room sweeping them out of the way was probably annoying enough but let's not forget the constant croaking while sending an invasion of frogs to Egypt might seem like a lesser plague we're guessing by the second sleepless night with ribbit ribbit going off of the pharaoh's ear every few seconds he was seriously thinking about alternative labor methods for Egypt's future and this is actually one plague that may still happen today the most common expression is its reigning cats and dogs but that doesn't seem to happen too often raining frogs on the other hand it's been reported multiple times throughout history Roman scientist Pliny the Elder once reported storms of frogs and fish falling from the sky and thousands of years later French soldiers reported a toadstorm in 1794. frogs and toads are small animals and they can easily be picked up by tornadoes and dropped elsewhere but this doesn't quite explain a massive multi-day frog Invasion What might explain it however is a river full of blood or red algae frogs are amphibians spending most of their day by the Riverside hunting bugs and small fish if the river suddenly becomes inhospitable they'll probably go looking for food elsewhere like all of Egypt so the scientific explanation for the plague of frogs might just be that they were all there all along but the first plague sent them into the city center to drive everyone nuts and speaking of driving everyone nuts number three lice and fleas every time summer comes around the mosquitoes ticks and gnats come out in full force and drive everyone nuts with their bites and there's no quicker way to break down someone's resistance than to annoy them into submission that's why for the third plague Moses raised his staff hit the dust of the ground and God transformed that very dust into a swarm of lice and gnats according to the Bible all the dust in Egypt transformed into these microscopic biting insects and set out like a vicious swarm to drink the blood of everyone there Not only would the thick swarm of insects be hard to see but the constant biting would keep everyone in constant pain and itching would last for days all the while new bites were being delivered while the Pharaoh no doubt tried to seal himself up in his Palace to protect him himself anyone who's ever tried to keep those insects out during the summer knows it's basically a Fool's errand this one definitely could have happened and it's not even a rare phenomenon like the last two these plagues all feed into each other the river was poisoned killing off Mass numbers of fish and sending the frogs fleeing to the city many of those frogs then died off because they'd already been poisoned by the river the piles of dead fish and frogs started attracting fast breeding insects which feed off the putrid flesh and then flew off in search of their next meal while it's not likely this happened as fast as was described in the Bible without divine intervention it's still entirely possible for the previous two plagues to result in a massive overrun of blood-sucking insects within a short period additionally frogs are an essential part of the ecosystem and they mostly feed on insects if the frogs left their usual hopping grounds and then died off in large numbers it would definitely boost an already growing insect population all these factors on the heels of the last two are definitely a recipe for a very itchy panicked Egyptian population and a whole lot of chaos but the animal moles weren't done coming number four wild beasts or something else this one gets tricky the original Hebrew word for this plague is araf and its meaning is ambiguous what is clear is that it's a mixture of something alive that comes into Egypt and kills off much of the livestock depriving the Egyptians of both their supply of meat and their working animals for their Farms the only question is what is doing the killing some Scholars have interpreted this plague as referring to wild beasts from the outlands coming in and slaughtering cattle there's no description of these beasts but many artists have depicted them as wolf-like creatures now that's a beast worthy of a plague but other Scholars have argued it might be something smaller venomous creatures like snakes scorpions or hornets and large numbers could easily devastate the cattle population and so could smaller insects like mosquitoes or stable flies that could bite the cattle and infect them with disease but what was the most likely explanation you might notice a pattern with the scientific explanation for these plagues they all sort of feed into the other a massive ecological faster has been unfolding since the blood in the river and now it had manifested into another plague much like the gnats that preceded this one it's possible that whatever these creatures were they had their food supply disrupted by the chaos in the river and the departure of the frogs with nowhere else to feed they headed into farming regions surrounding the city and began eating whatever they could find there's no report of any humans being killed by these mysterious creatures at least not directly which might make it more likely that these creatures were among smaller options of course they might just play into future plagues when they started killing the Egyptians more directly and like all the other plagues this one might not have stayed where it was supposed to because the pestilence situation was about to go from bad to worse number 5. pestilence not long after the next plague came silently with Incredible consequences a swift moving plague started sweeping through the Egyptians livestock the cattle population had already been decimated by the previous plague targeting them but wild animals weren't contagious now a highly fatal disease was killing off whole herds and flocks and they were spreading it to each other with only rudimentary knowledge of disease prevention the Egyptians were powerless to stop the disease from spreading this added to the major problem that the first five plagues caused starvation the first plague targeted the water supply in the fish population others targeted crops this one was targeting the meat Supply and leaving it contaminated it's not clear if the disease was making the jump to humans but what was clear is that the food supply was Getting Thinner and thinner even among the elites and we may know exactly what this one was while it's possible that God just created a new play got a thin air to Target livestock we also know that there's a livestock disease that really existed and devastated much of the animal population of Africa and Europe in the 18th and 19th century it was called rinderpest and it had a nasty collection of symptoms fever diarrhea necrosis of the lymphoid and oral Source worse it had nearly a hundred percent fatality rate and could be transmitted by both air and water it affected wide range of animals including cattle deer Buffalo and camels while the plague in the Bible mentions it affected other animals like donkeys and sheep the two viruses could be closely related the good news is rinderpest had been eradicated due to its devastating impact on the food supply the United Nations food and agricultural organization focused on making it the second disease after smallpox to be eliminated but if it was present in ancient Egypt their entire food supply would have been in rough shape and it wasn't just the animals in trouble number six boils While most of the previous plagues targeted the food supply and environment around the Pharaoh and his men this one hit home literally God ordered Moses to take soot from a furnace and throw it in the air in front of the Pharaoh the soot turned into a Fine Dirt which spread over the palace and all around Egypt and whenever it hid an Egyptian their skin would break out into painful festering infected boils the Pharaoh no doubt had many a palace doctor and Apothecary trying to cure his ailment but none of them had answers and the average Egyptian was left to fend for themselves else not only did this cause the Egyptians constant pain but it likely left them open to infection once the boils burst leaving the painful skin underneath exposed after all an ancient Society sanitation standards weren't quite up to what they are today people didn't know germ Theory with most people working in manual labor jobs and painful sores not being a good enough excuse to not work this created a big problem for Egypt's populace but was there another explanation for these Dermatological tortures scientists have studied the description of these boils and have come up with a number of theories one is once again a continuation of the previous plagues with the massive die off of livestock due to the pestilence it's likely the many animal bodies would have become a breeding ground for biting and stinging insects everyone from commoners to the Pharaoh would have likely been dealing with horse flies gnats and lice and even larger numbers which might have caused painful welts and infections another explanation is the deadly highly infectious disease smallpox which is believed to have been in Egypt since around 3000 years ago and the evidence of smallpox scars have been found on the mummy of a previous pharaoh and then there are standard voils which can be caused by a minor skin infection brought on by bacteria maybe it was one of these or all of them but one thing's for sure the Egyptians were not having a good time and it was about to get worse number seven fire and hail when Moses came back down to the pharaoh's Castle he hoped that all the constant disease and starvation had worn him down because if not God was ready to escalate the next plague would bring the worst hail storm to ever fall on Egypt coupled with a massive lightning storm that Lit much of the country on fire the disaster was so extreme that Moses even warned the pharaoh to tell his countrymen to bring all their livestock and supplies inside because anything outside was likely to be destroyed by Massive rock-like pieces of ice falling from the sky many translations describe this as fiery hail which typically isn't something that exists making it look more and more like God's Wrath the combination of hail lightning and raging Flames devastated the already weakened country with one exception the city of Goshen which was primarily populated by the enslaved Israelites but what was the secret of this terrible storm while some of the details might have been embellished like plumes of flames this plague was described more in depth than many of the others and that's not a surprise terrible storms are something that happen in nature and don't need an explanation hail storms are uncommon in the desert but possible and commonly accompanied by lightning however there is another explanation for the unusual and extreme weather around 3 500 years ago a Time near The Exodus there was a massive volcanic explosion on the island of Santorini near Crete this sent massive amounts of volcanic ash into the atmosphere which can create atypical weather especially when it mixes with thunderstorms this could account for the unusual size of the hail which was accompanied by lightning strikes and fire all put together it's not a surprise it looked positively apocalyptic to the Egyptians then came a plague that might have delivered the killing blow to Egyptian Society number eight locusts it wasn't the first time the country had been hit by a bug an animal problem during the 10 plagues but few insects were feared more than the Locust this insect didn't attack humans or spread pestilence it had only one target the Egyptian food source when the Pharaoh once again refused to let the Hebrews leave Egypt Moses warned that the plagues of locusts would cover the land so much so that no one would ever be able to see the ground the plants that had not been destroyed by the hail were now targeted by the locusts and this added to the attacks on the livestock by wild beasts disease and the disturbance in the water that killed many of the fish this meant that all corners of the Egyptian food supply had been devastated especially for the lower classes this meant Mass starvation and when the peasants can't eat even the Pharaoh should start getting nervous of possible Rebellion when people can't feed their family they have nothing to lose and this plague also follows a simple chain of events did God send the locusts there's no way of knowing but if Moses was a Savvy performer determined to free his people this is one he could have seen coming the theory that the hail storm was caused by a volcanic eruption means that the the ash would cause weather anomalies including more frequent rain and greater humidity and when there's humidity locusts find it easier to breed in inhospitable climates the ash was going to linger for a long time and that meant they would arrive in Egypt for a Feeding Frenzy and see absolutely no reason to leave many of these plagues fed into each other so Moses might have taken a string of bad luck and used it to intimidate the Pharaoh into giving up his slaves after all if an Angry God was supposedly controlling nature is it really worth trying to find out what he's willing to do next the Pharaoh apparently thought so because the next two plagues would be the most dramatic ones yet number nine darkness when the Pharaoh rebuffed Moses once again God sent him a message stretch out your hand to the sky and the sky will respond Darkness fell over Egypt not just any Darkness but Inky black darkness that no one could see through only those with lights could fight their way through what was called a Pitch Black Knight except this night didn't end all around Egypt it was like the sun had been blotted out and it didn't rise again for three days and three nights the Bible claimed times that the Jewish people in Egypt were once again spared from the plague with lights in their homes but this is only mentioned briefly Moses may have warned them of what was to come allowing them to stockpile oil for their lamps so they can make their way through the darkness with ease or maybe God was just that powerful and he wanted the Egyptians to see that the only people he was defending would have a light but the scariest thing about the darkness is that it could happen again there are many theories about what could blot out the sun over Egypt from a scientific perspective the sun does go down for months at a time in the far north but Egypt is near the equator and has long days for most of the Year another theory is a solar eclipse which can dramatically block out the Sun but those typically only last several hours at most instead the most likely answer might be that a Darkness resulted from that same source as the last few plagues the massive cloud of volcanic ash settling over Egypt due to the volcanic eruption while it's unlikely this would have created NightLight conditions the combination of a massive Cloud overhead blocking out the Sun and unsettled weather bringing in dust and Ash blowing in through the streets could have led to an extended period of Darkness so bad that it would have been hard to see your hand in front of your face and for ancient people who didn't know when the sun was going to rise again this was probably terrifying but God still had one last dramatic act to go number 10. death of the firstborn surely blocking out the sun would be enough for the pharaoh to yield by now right but maybe it was Pride many sources indicate that this Pharaoh was raised alongside Moses as his older brother so maybe it was sibling rivalry whatever the cause the Pharaoh rebuffed Moses one more time and God called down the most terrifying plague yet this one would take some prep because God ordered Moses to spread the word to the Hebrews take the blood of a lamb and Mark it above your doorway because tonight the angel of death will come down from the heavens and when the angel sees the blood over the doorway he'll know the home belongs to one of the Jewish people and pass it by but for all the unmarked doors belonging to the Egyptians the angel of death will enter and for each house he'll claim the life of their firstborn son this went all across class lines in Egypt claiming the lives of peasants merchants and even the eldest son of the Pharaoh himself this was enough to finally break the pharaoh's Spirit but was it divine intervention of all the ten plagues this was the only one that is explicitly Supernatural as described an intelligent ethereal being comes down from heaven to claim specific Souls but is warded off from taking the lives of those protected by God by a religious ritual in fact every Egyptian firstborn son died the same night its proof of divine intervention but it's been several thousand years and we have no way of knowing the exact details of the deaths that happened that night what is known is that one specific person died that night the pharaoh's son and in a society that largely worshiped their kings as gods that would be enough to shake a nation it's possible that the pharaoh's son became sick as a result of the many other plagues but if firstborns were disproportionately affected by the plague there are some possible explanations firstborns are typically the ones who did the majority of the chores in the field for Egyptian families and those fields might have been contaminated by by the many pathogens released through the past plagues so a plague targeting the firstborns might have just been a matter of exposure but God had one more even more dramatic act to follow the story goes that the loss of his son broke the Pharaoh and he agreed to let Moses lead the slaves out of Egypt everyone packed up their few belongings headed for the border and took some food including unleavened bread because there was no time to wait for it to rise imagine baking some emergency flatbread for your family while you flee slavery and thousands of years later people are still talking about your messed up bread so the Jews headed for the border and it was smooth sailing from there or not the pharaoh's grief turned to rage and he ordered his army to head to the border and drive the juice back to slavery at the same time Moses was Leading the People to the Red Sea he raised his staff and the Sea parted for them allowing them to walk through on dry land as they made their way out of Egypt they saw the Egyptian Army roaring after them and then just as quickly as it had raised to the side the Red Sea Came Crashing Down on the Egyptian Army sweeping them away to their Doom while Jews walked onto safety which raises the same question as the 10 plagues Act of God or act of nature much like the death of the firstborns it's highly unlikely this could have happened as described without divine intervention most of the depictions of The Parting of the Red Sea and movies have seen the sea parting into walls that can be walked through only to come crashing down at the exact right moment however Tides can shift dramatically especially with unusual weather conditions it's possible that the level of the water was low at the time allowing the Jewish slaves to Wade to Freedom only for a flood or surge to arrive soon after taking the Egyptians with it but one scientist proposes another theory Carl Drews believes the Red Sea of the Bible wasn't the Red Sea at all it was mistranslation from sea of reeds and would have been located just south of the Mediterranean Sea this would have been a shallow Lagoon and with unusually strong winds that day it could have created the illusion of a parting and the shifting of winds could have caused the water to Roar back whatever the answer one thing is for sure if these events happen to anywhere our nearest described Egypt did not have a good time and changing up their labor policy was the least of their problems days one through three I've never left my Village before but now I've arrived in the city of Venice it's absolutely breathtaking people say it's a Marvel of the world like the ancient wonders and even though I've never been more than a few miles from home I don't have reason to doubt it the entire city is built on a lagoon with the very building seeming to float on the water it's incredible and I've been told that it's the secret to the city's success it's all but impossible to lay Siege to the floating city my excitement is overwhelming and I'm grateful that my best friend christophero made the move with me to the city with trade in the Far East booming the docks have been struggling to keep enough workers on hand many of the dock hands start their work here and then eventually make their move to one of the big sailing ships setting out for adventure in the far-flung corners of our world it's a good way to make money and earn respect too maybe one day I too will leave the docs behind but christophero isn't a fan of big ships and he's scared of deep water I make fun of him he's again with the fact that we'll be living in a floating city surrounded by water our journey is Pleasant enough with good weather surprisingly mild for summer and soon enough we're in our new home days four through seven we have a friend in the city Johannes or else it'd be the Flop houses for us smelly dangerous places where criminals and the poorest of citizens stay I hear that here in Venice even the Flop houses are nicer than anywhere else and I don't doubt it the city is beautiful I'm so excited that it helps to cover up the pain of having to leave my family behind but I won't be gone forever just long enough to make good coin and eventually move my family here with me until then they're only a week's Journey Away by foot maybe I'll even earn enough to buy a horse and cut the journey in half I can't imagine the look on everyone's faces if I return home with my very own horse Johannes and his beautiful wife Isabella are gracious and wonderful hosts the honest has done well for himself investing in one of the galleys that sails the Asiatic trade routes and we stay in one of his spare bedrooms their two young children boys that barely reach our way star rambunctious and full of life christophero and I feel a joy sharing their home and it helps cut the sting of missing our own children we help them out with their chores as much as we can Isabella senses our homesickness and sweetly goes out of her way to make us special treats and our favorite dish is to dull the pain Christopher and I start working the day after our arrival the job is hard loading and unloading ships but the pay is good the city is wealthy making a fortune from trade and even doc hands make good coin here earning significantly more than any other port in Italy by the end of our first day I already have calluses on my hands but it's worth it back home I'd have been a farmer like my father and his father before him making just enough to continue living but with no hope of improving my lot in life here there's opportunity and I dream of earning enough not just to move my family to the city but one day attend an art school days eight and nine there's been disturbing rumors at the Docks people have started falling ill in Genoa and Pisa they've been breaking out in large boils that ooze of foul smelling pus doctors are incapable of treating them and that said they die soon after infection no one seems to know what's causing it and there's concern anytime someone has an errant cough but then everyone laughs and ignores it the hard work keeps our minds occupied days 10 through 12. two of the four men at the Docks haven't shown up to work and there's been several workers who have come down with a severe fever everyone's very concerned especially with the rumors coming from Genoa and nearby cities that spread with each arriving ship an official from the city came to inspect the docks this morning he kept a rag covering his mouth and nose the entire time I don't know what his purpose was but he made many notes and left in a hurry I'm concerned if they shut down the Ducks it'll shut down my only source of income but I shake those fears away the very lifeblood of Venice is the sprawling docks without the wealth the trade ships bring in all the fancy schools and institutions the city's world famous for would shut their doors for good days 13 through 15. something is very wrong at least half of the Dock Workers have fallen ill many too sick to continue working nobody is allowed to visit any of the affected and this cities begun moving them to warehouses near the docks they've even started the post guards outside the warehouses to ensure nobody goes in or comes out the rumors that will soon be shut down are even stronger and several more City officials have come to visit all of them covering their noses and mouths with Rags a young boy of 16 Christopher and I have befriended has started coughing but he laughs enough when we express our concern we can't help but keep our distance from him even though it feels rude to do so but I'll admit I'm scared days 16 to 20. the docks have been shut down I can't believe it one of the most famous ports in the entire world has been brought to a grinding halt the number of ships anchored offshore Grows by the day each waiting to deliver their cargo I hear that the crews are Furious knowing that each day they sit out at anchor they lose profit christopheronahive received a full month's pay despite working only half a month that is the benefit of working in one of the richest cities in Europe but though the pay is fair it won't last as long if the docks stay shut down I keep trying to keep Christopher's spirits up reminding him that Venice is a trade City it can't survive without it they'll keep the dock shut down long enough to get on top of the strange new illness and then we'll reopen again Johannes and Isabella have been very gracious to us despite our temporary loss of work we both promised to find other jobs in the meantime but they're simply nod and smiled I admit being in johannes's home makes me miss my own less watching him with his wife and two young children reminds me of my own parents and younger siblings I hope that I'll be able to visit them soon but I won't be able to if I can't earn coin days 21 to 24. Christopher and I found work delivering supplies to those victims of the illnesses being housed in the warehouses by the docks and my God I wish I hadn't taken the job nobody knows much of what's going on City officials are very quiet on what exactly is happening and people grow Restless I discovered why they're keeping So Silent while delivering bread and soup to the hungry victims of this mysterious illness before being let into the warehouse I was given several clean Rags dampened with olive oil which I was told to wrap around my head so it covered my nose and mouth and I was warned to breathe only through my rags what I saw inside terrifies me still the pitiful men and women were covered in large boils many of which burst leaking foul-smelling pus onto the bed sheets but those were the lucky ones Those whom the disease was ravaging the worst had fingers toes and even entire limbs green and black from gangrene one man had an entire hand blackened with the foul disease and I've been told that limbs are known to Simply fall off from rot I rushed to a corner of the cramped warehouse and vomited removing my oil dampened face covering one of the good sisters an elderly Nun by the name of sister Katarina comforted me as I replaced my protective coverings I don't know what this evil is but it consumes men from the inside and blackens their fairy limbs only a disease from Satan himself could do something so foul days 25 to 28 the city's been officially quarantined church services are canceled indefinitely and street performers and charlatans band from City centers travel across the Rialto Bridge has been suspended effectively cutting the city in half ferries across the grand can now and to the mainland are now barred from operating we are City cotton 2 with each half cut off not just from each other but the rest of the world the wealthy however seem exempt from these restrictions and every day they board small vessels to make the trip to the mainland away from the crowded city the city suddenly feels crowded and stuffy despite the authorities Banning travel except for one hour a day there's rumors that that will soon end as well Christopher and I are exempt from these restrictions by the nature of our work someone must care for the sick after all but I admit though I know ours is good moral work I am afraid I don't want to be anywhere near those warehouses anymore at least the city has increased our pay and incentive to continue doing our necessary work I'm earning more than I did at the Docks but I wish that I could just quit Johannes hasn't asked us for any money except a bit to help cover food expenses and has so far refused us giving him any form of rent claiming hospitality is his Christian Duty he's a good man and I'm glad to have him and his family in these dark times days 29-33 I've come to know Sister Katarina quite well in the last week she's a good woman and when I confide in her that I'm afraid to do my work because of the disease she gently nods and Pats my hand it's natural to be afraid she says but we must share the love of Christ with these Unfortunate Souls even despite our fear and we do so by feeding and caring for them she is right of course but I am still afraid each day the number of victims in the warehouses grow several are now full to the brim and more warehouses are being commandeered by the city for use as makeshift hospitals the situation is increasingly grim and I can't help but wonder if soon the entire city won't find itself in one of these sprawling warehouses eventually though Rome does become available albeit for very Macabre reasons not many are surviving this vowel disease as their bodies become covered in large pustules their extremities blacken and then die soon too does the spirit within them die on average it only takes eight days but for some they last two weeks of every 10 men who enter the warehouse as patients only two will recover days 34-36 christophero has a plan to leave the city he's too afraid and no amount of coin is enough for him to want to stay anymore I try to tell him that the illness is temporary soon it'll pass and we'll get back to work and be back on the road to our dreams but he doesn't listen he wants to steal a boat and row us to the mainland I tell him he's crazy he'll be discovered and imprisoned maybe even killed for not just the theft of the boat but for violating the quarantine order but he is on deterred he wants to go back home to our remote Village far away from this evil sickness it's hard to argue with him because deep down inside so do I I try and keep my mind off of our troubles with my drawings I like to draw the colorful songbirds but lately they've been harder and harder to spot in the city Venice has begun to Reek from the smell of death and the only birds that frequent the city now are crows and other scavengers the pretty songbirds that once gave the city a charm unique to any other large European city are long gone chased Away by the putersons that permeates the very air we breathe days 37-41 johannes's wife Isabella has become ill discovery that I made with great dread she's been coughing keeping it a secret from the rest of us and insisting on remaining distant from the family and us at first we all assumed it was a passing foul mood it seems we're all dealing with our own depressive Spirits lately but the steadily increasing coughing betrayed her illness often armed guards have to enforce the quarantine of the sick but she surrendered herself to the makeshift hospitals at the dock voluntarily now I bring her food as I bring the rest of the ill along with news from home when I leave I make sure to do all of my crying in private on the street so that Johannes and the children do not see my tear-streaked face instead I Smile as I return home relaying messages and greetings from his wife for the family days 42-45 a mob of men attempted to rush the Rialto Bridge and cross it by force only to be repelled by the armed guards a number of them were killed along with one or two of the guards the city is a powder cake and the quarantine has been tightened in response only making tensions worse the truth is though that other than a small number of discontents most people are simply too afraid to leave their homes christophero is more insistent than ever that we leave but it's not just fear of being discovered that keeps me here but now a sense of Duty as well I'm the only link between Johannes and his wife and with the incredible Hospitality he's shown us the thought of leaving him now is unbearable the bad news though continues to grow one of the children now has a Telltale cough and has been removed from its sibling we are all hopeful it's only a normal cold but everyone knows the odds are slim to none days 46-50 I've been forced to bring Isabella her youngest son who is now confirmed to have this terrible plague she herself is faring bestest can be hoped with large pustules covering her inner thighs and armpits I can tell the pain is unbearable but she always has the sweetest smile for me her son is faring poorly he is so young barely more than three years old regardless she's greeted him with her usual beaming smile and has not once dropped it since his arrival in this place of sickness and misery Isabella truly shines like a radiant Dawn I pray every day that she can recover and though she seems to not be falling as severely ill as the others I know there is little hope for her now Sister Katarina has taken an immediate liking to Isabella and the young boy I knew she would both women are bright spots in an increasingly evil world I pray that their light not be extinguished days 51 and 52 the boy passed just two days after arrival at the warehouse and now johannes's second son is exhibiting symptoms it's like a cruel joke no sooner than one passes than the older boy Falls ill and is delivered to his grieving mother's arms for her part though Isabella remains as joyful as ever though I can tell in my visits that her soul is absolutely crushed she sheds her tears in private though like me and sister Katarina keeping a brave face for those who need us I pray God spare her and Johannes the loss of yet another son I pray that he spares all from this horrible disease Isabella seems unusually healthy despite being so stricken and I'm hopeful that she'll be one of those that recover she's already defied the odds for almost two weeks days 53 3-56 many of the sisters that tend to the ill have fallen sick and died themselves and yet more continued to take their place I am in awe at the incredible courage of these women serving the lord despite knowing it will likely mean death I am reminded of tales of the great Martyrs clinging to their faith despite torture imprisonment and death I hope history remembers these Brave Women of Faith Christopher and I do our Grim Duty with great care wishing to protect ourselves from this disease our olive oil Rags protect us from breathing in the foul Vapors and rose oil protects the skin its pricey commodity but provided to us by the city for our duty the pleasant smell of the oils helps combat this fallenness and I've been sneaking into Isabella for her own use I hate to admit but she is looking weaker now thankfully the foul Blackness hasn't claimed any of her limbs but she's no longer able to hide from her son or from us how very ill she's Fallen despite this she puts on a brave face for us all and musters the energy to play with her son with the few toys we've been allowed to bring to her from home days 57 and 58 Isabella and her son both died within a day of each other the grief is overwhelming and I was unable to hide my tears as I returned with the news for Johannes it's a mercy I suppose that they died so soon after the other sparing both the pain lingering of their own misery Johannes however has been spared no misery his cherished family is now all gone and within hours of breaking the news to him he too began to exhibit a cough he did not hesitate and simply left the home to turn himself into the warehouses it's as if he'd been battling the illness that took one song buoyed by the hope of his wife and older son surviving and now that they're gone he simply surrendered himself to the disease days 59-62 Johannes requested that I bring him ink and paper as well as the presence of an official notary who met with us by standing a great distance from the open door of the warehouse he has officially willed christophero and I his home and remaining belongings it's obvious to all that he has given up on his life I asked him to please reconsider telling him of the men and women I've seen leave these foul docks healthy in hail but he simply shrug it off I know by now the dangers of giving up those are the first to fall to the disease as it feasts on their weakened Souls but I suppose I can't blame him days 63-68 Johannes is now gone too seemingly speeding to his own death in direct inverse proportion to the incredible fortitude and endurance of his beautiful wife Christopher and I are now alone in the city though our property owners a feat that would have taken decades or more for our hard-worked and sacrificed to achieve but it is a gift that tastes of Ash earned in the most horrible of circumstances more of the nuns have died in their sacred Duty tending to the needy but sister Katarina remains hail and healthy I tell her it's incredible faith and purity of spirit that protects her but she was quick to reprimand me the other sisters had Faith No lesser than her own and as for her Purity I was shocked to hear her confess that she was once a prostitute the disease is no more God's Wrath than it is Faith and Purity that protects her from it and she gently scolds me for my Superstition what then is this great evil that's fallen on the world and why does it take good people like Isabella I asked her she chides me in her kindly way and asks me if I remember a great pain for my childhood yes I tell her once when I was young I teased the Old Goat my father kept and it rammed me in the chest in response it hurt a great deal but now the pain is simply a memory I no longer feel it and no longer affects me likewise sister Katarina says it's the pain of this life in the light of Eternity we are in an imperfect world and it's our character instructed in wisdom and Temperance by the challenges of this life that survives to be rewarded in eternity I don't know if Sister Katarina is right but I know that I wish more Christians thought and acted like her days 69-73 christophero has the cough I suppose we both knew it was inevitable given our proximity to the ill we both have wanted to quit our job bringing food and water to the sick but we were shamed by Sister Katarina's powerful example even christophero had quit his talk of leaving the city if the good sister had the courage to remain and serve the sick how could we possibly do less I bring him drawings of pretty Birds to cheer him up but they are drawings I have to make from memory as no Songbird had visited the city in months in their place the carrion birds have grown in number feasting up remains of the Dead that are piled outside the harbor like cordwood waiting to be burned with only special shipments from the mainland to the city arriving once a week There's simply not enough firewood to burn the corpses faster than they accumulate and the stink has grown to incredible proportions it affects the poor forced to live near the docks the worst but drifts even to the more affluent neighborhoods in the city days 74-78 I've received a letter from home first since my arrival it's difficult to communicate given the remoteness of the village and The Messengers only pass by rarely with the quarantine my letter had to await the monthly special shipment to arrive on the mainland and make its way to my family I am relieved to hear that all is well back at home though it is clear the letter is weeks old they've heard of the illness back home and inquired to my health expressing great concern I write back and pay the fee to send my response with next week's shipment but I don't have the heart to tell them that that christophero has fallen ill I also don't tell of Johannes and his family the less they know back home the better I'm relieved however to discover that there is no sign of this plague amongst them the village is remote and it seems to be the large cities and surrounding Countryside that's most severely affected by now it is clear that ships traveling from Asia have brought the disease with them and spread it from port to port across Europe and North Africa the remoteness of my home Village which I once resented due to my ambitions of becoming a great artist is now a blessing I am most grateful for days 79-83 christophero is severely ill there are large pustules growing along his inner thighs and arms the gangrenous rot has claimed his toes and it works his way up his feet his fingertips also show sign of rot neither of us mention it but we have both worked these warehouses long enough to know that those who display the rot rarely ever survive instead we talk about our plans for after the illness as Property Owners we are entitled to more rights than others real opportunities await us we decide that it'd be best to sell the home and use the proceeds to invest in one of the smaller trade ships with so many sailors dying to the disease and trade grinding to a halt once the ports reopened there will be fortunes to be made our investment in even a smaller trade Galley is bound to yield incredible returns then I'll be able to attend one of the Fine Art academies I've hoped for and move my family to the city christopherol will be able to afford the fancy hats and fine shoes he's always dreamed of owning he'll look just like the Nobles he's always looked up to wealthy farmers will line up outside our door to offer us their beautiful daughters in marriage once we're successful businessmen and artists such a pleasant fantasy that as I tell the stories of our bright future I don't even notice when christophero closes his eyes for the last time with a small smile still on his disease-stricken face days 84-89 all I have left in the city is Sister Katarina but it seems that she too will soon leave me after months of working closely with the men and women so sick even the other nuns were afraid of the good sister is now showing signs of the deadly infection she doesn't have to turn herself into the quarantine as she's been living here amongst the ill since the plague became that way she could more readily attend to their needs she explained I find myself filled with dark thoughts and understand better than ever Johannes choice I wonder aloud if the disease will soon claim me too but the sister scolds me for such thinking instead she asked me to show her drawings and talk about my future plans I tell her about selling the home I could never stay in the place of such sorrow and of all my plans to invest in one of the trading Ventures once the ports reopen she nods in approval but makes me promise to do my Christian Duty and tithe 10 of everything I earn I smile at her and promise to do what she wishes I tell her about christophero's plan to sneak out of the city and to my surprise she agrees do it she says leave this place of death She's rather insistent on the matter I'm shocked to my core to even hear the good sister encourage me to steal the boat and flee the city but I couldn't leave her if I even wanted to finally she confides to me that she doesn't want to see me fall ill but she also doesn't want me to see her past as I have seen others go leave before that she begs me I am disturbed but I understand I tell her I will heavily consider it days 9 90-92 I can't help but notice that the number of guards has dropped dramatically since the plague began many of them have fallen ill I know as I've personally seen them condemned to the warehouses it's more difficult to properly enforce the quarantine and I have seen enough missing boats to know that others have acted on their own plans for escape what guards do remain largely concentrated on the canal Crossings keeping the city split in two separated from itself Hotel sister Katarina and she smiles she asked me to leave her some of my bird drawings before I go to cheer up and remind her of more pleasant times and give her a stack of my drawings and remind her that I have not agreed to go she smiles again in her knowing way as I leave to go home I realize she's right I will be leaving the city I don't think I can bear to see sister Katarina die any more than she can bear the thought of me watching her go days 93 to 95 it takes time to prepare for my Escape From the City I stash supplies and take the long route from the kitchens to the warehouses which gives me an opportunity to take inventory of the small tied up row boats along my travel route I mentally pick one out I feel a small amount of Shame knowing I'll be committing theft against its owner but odds are the owner's dead anyway the thought is only slightly comforting I tell sister Katarina the news and she smiles broadly she isn't looking very well the rod hasn't come for her yet but the large pustules have grown along her arms and chest I'm grateful if she dies at least let her die unblemished by the foul stinking rock that claims the others let her die with a body of dignity like Isabella I asked God for the small Mercy I bring sister Katarina drawings of my home where I plan on returning to I want her to picture the world beyond the walls of this overcrowded foul-smelling Warehouse I even buy colored pencils so I can draw the green grass the warm yellow sun those aren't cheap and eat a sizable amount of my savings but their price increased dramatically by the quarantine but it's well worth it to see the smile on the good sister's face I only keep one drawing from her a portrait I secretly made as she slept that one will be for myself a way to remember Sister Katarina after she's passed finally I bid her goodbye for the last time fighting the tears back and putting on a brave face then I surprised myself by throwing my arms around her as gently as I can so as not to aggravate her painful pustules she is shocked and briefly Returns the Embrace before pushing me away but I don't care about this damn disease anymore then I leave but I can only hold the tears in long enough to turn my back on the sister I don't bother hiding them as I exit the warehouse it's okay nobody pays any attention to you anymore if You Weep this entire city has been flooded by Tears days 96 and 97 I don't show up to work as I'll have to prepare for my Escape From the City I take the time to scout the route I plan on taking to the boat I've picked out and do my best to learn the patterns of the patrolling guards the patrols are scarce though and the lockdown within the city is only enforced sparingly there's simply not enough manpower left to keep everyone inside by force yet the streets remain largely empty everyone quarantining inside their homes by choice terrified of venturing Beyond and falling prey to the disease days 98 and 99 I make my Escape at night reaching my selected boat is easy enough there's ships out in the lagoon but lay down anyone's paying particular attention of more concern will be anyone on the mainland who may be none too happy about another fleeing rat from the sinking city of Venice the current is surprisingly strong and it takes me hours to land on that distant Shore once there I make my way Inland with a few belongings and my small savings I opt to sleep in the wilderness however knowing that the arrival of a stranger to one of the local villages will alert the authorities to my surprise there are armed patrols along the roads some official and other local militias protecting their Villages from anyone who might be bringing the disease with him I've heard rumors that the plague has struck the mainland and penetrated deep but I didn't realize things were as bad as here in Venice I decided to hunker down for a day and move at night my plan is simple I will travel at night and take the wild paths all the way home I'm fairly good Navigator and I should be able to reach home within a week day 100 I'm awakened by a sharp poke in the rib from a homemade Pike the boy holding it must be just a few years younger than I and he looks nervous as I Rise he threatens me with the makeshift Pike commanding me to keep my distance and stay where I am soon his shouts alert the rest of his group and several older men rushed to us they're all similarly armed they're clearly local militia from one of the nearby Villages and they eye me with great suspicion then the eldest amongst them steps forward you're from the city aren't you you shouldn't have come here you should have stayed and died with the rest instead of bringing your disease to our homes the man brandishes his sharpened Pitchfork aiming it directly at my heart it was January 30th 1962 the scene is a classroom in an all-girls school in a small village called kasasa which is located in present-day Tanzania it's just an ordinary day the girls chat and as usual laugh and joke around one of the girls says something to her friend it's funny very funny because the girl starts laughing loudly then two more girls join in the laughter and after that more girls start laughing and they just can't stop it's contagious this laughter and you could say it's possessing the girls soon around a hundred girls are laughing rolling around giggling uncontrollably the contagion has started and it's going to last a long time it will leave this school and infect nearby Villages this will become known as The Laughing plague and it'll become part of the annals of unbelievable history that intro sounds amusing but this mad event was certainly no joke those girls couldn't study they couldn't focus they couldn't do much besides laugh what's wrong with them thought the teachers when the students returned to their Villages the laughter would spread there and it went on and on for days weeks months and it didn't die out for about one and a half years and in the end over a thousand people came down with this plague they weren't just laughing either some of them fainted others could hardly breathe some cried some screamed some broke out in rashes and a few of them couldn't stop passing gas from their behind it was Mayhem Madness and as we said it was no joke those people weren't having fun they weren't enjoying these laughing fits we say fits because of course they weren't continuously laughing for a year and a half some of them stopped and oh what a relief that was but then they relapsed and again the agony of laughter took control the fit might last just a few hours but some would be possessed by laughter for days on end there might be a break for a few days and then it would start back up again the first school where it started had to close how could teachers work with kids just laughing all the time it opened back up again and then closed again 14 schools in total were affected the locals had a name for it which was indwara yokushika which translates as the illness of laughing what you want to know is what caused this what was behind this side-splitting malady that moved through this little bit of Africa the answer in short is hysteria and when hysteria happens to a lot of people at the same time we call it Mass hysteria it can also be called Mass psychogenic illness or MPI that basically means a group of people suddenly come down with the same thing except no external cause can be found those girls and the other villagers hadn't just breathed in some toxin laughing gas hadn't been pumped into their environments this was a psychological thing but why did it happen the lead theory is stress you see these people lived in a place called Tanganyika and just before the laughter broke out it had got its independence from the United Kingdom before the outbreak the kids had complained that they felt stressed out about all the changes going on around them there was also the stress of being away from home the school where it first broke out was a Christian School and some experts say that when the girls were faced with the new values of that school it was hard given that in their Villages they learned very different Traditional Values in a way their laughter could have been a result of that stress it could have been a matter of cohesion of people coming together but in an unconscious way in Psychology it might be called conversion when some kind of anxiety is converted into something physical that doesn't always have to be a mass thing there have been cases of repressed anxiety just paralyzing a person's limp I'm stressed oops there goes the use of my leg it's happened we should also say that this is not the same as something called crowd Theory when crowds can get hypnotized and exhibit a certain kind of behavior these people weren't mimicking each other they weren't under the influence of a certain energy they were sick one psychiatrist explained it like this the symptoms experienced are real fainting palpitations headaches nausea shaking even fits and is often attributed to a medical condition but for which no conventional biomedical explanation can be found there are other theories of why it happens too some scientists have said that it could have been caused by a virus in the brain one of them wrote I find it improbable that a purely psychological Mass reaction would last so long and be so widespread he said that there have been quite a lot of cases when Mass hysteria broke out especially in schools but not like the Laughing plague this was a special case because it went on for so long and was so widespread if you want another example of this we can look at the same year 1962 but this time it happened in the USA it involved a whole bunch of workers in a textile Factory people who were all working in the dressmaking department around 60 workers suddenly came down with a mysterious bug it would become known as the June bug those folks were fainting throwing up or just felt very some were taken to the hospital and the story soon hit the media how can so many people all working in the same place just come down with something at the same time the U.S Public Health Service communicable disease Center got on the case and he couldn't find anything wrong with these people the conclusion was hysterical contagion interviews later revealed that those workers had been very stressed does it happen today or is it a thing of the past we found a recent case in Thailand where 21 girls at a school were affected by a mass hysteria these girls were screaming and crying while others had seizures muscle spasms or were hyperventilating they were taken to a hospital and given some Valium what was happening was happening in their heads but get this the next day it happened again the Thai doctor concluded that this was a case of mass psychogenic illness we may never know what caused it there are even stranger cases too when people acted out as if they'd been possessed by a demon here's an excerpt from a 1979 news report describing Mass hysteria in a Singapore School some cried shiver and started eating the grass and empty glasses others stared into empty space with open eyes while performing a Tai Chi type of Dance Movement imagine being there for that one you could have been mistaken for thinking the zombie apocalypse was really happening because there have been so many cases in schools a psychologist named Robert Bartholomew actually wrote a book about it he said it seems to happen in schools that are very religiously devout or very conservative when students are told to follow rigid rules they can become anxious frustrated and this can be heavy on the mind the affected students might feel powerless and the hysteria could be a result of that they just explode unconsciously and it's contagious he said one of the students might witness another just going over the edge and then the others fall like dominoes it's real though not play acting he said I cannot stress enough that this is not a conscious process and the girls are not faking it it's late September 1924 and a group of Migrant workers from Mexico are sitting in a small neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles having a beer and listening to a tale that's being told by a day labor from the Los Angeles Railway his name is Jesus and he regales his buddies with the hilarious story of how he'd been living with a terrible stench in his house but he had no idea where it was coming from Jesus got to work turning his house upside down but he couldn't find anything rotten then he wondered about under the house he soon found the cause of the awful smell it was a rat a dead rotting rat he picked the thing up and threw it in the trash can and one week later people were no longer laughing they were now crying at the death of Jesus and his daughter soon others in the neighborhood would drop like flies Jesus had started a plague his full name was Jesus lahoon and that neighborhood contained a Vibrant Community of people mostly of Latino descent he lived at 700 Clara Street which would later become known as the death house because as you'll see it wasn't the only Death House on that street worse things would happen a few doors down the neighborhood was a bustling Place back in the day but as you all know busy places are not so great when a virus breaks out you see Jesus said contracted the Bubonic plague from that dead rat and what happened after was the last plague epidemic in the USA we're guessing a lot of you were thinking wait wait a minute wasn't the Bubonic plague that thing from the Middle Ages that wiped out good chunks of Europe wasn't the plague dead and buried centuries ago the answer is no it's still here it's been here all the time it's still in the good old USA right now but there aren't many cases these days in fact if you look at the cdc's website you can see that in 2018 there was just one confirmed case of the plague in the U.S 2015 was a bad year regarding the American plague because 16 people got it that year and four of them died one of the victims was just 16 years old this wasn't called an outbreak because the cases happened in various states in the U.S over the entire year so the 1924 plague was what we'll Now call the last outbreak of this pestilence okay before we get back to Jesus and the chaos he unknowingly caused we think you need to know just a little bit more about the plague here's a short plague 101 for you just so you don't get panicked when there's already a pan academic going on right now over 80 percent of plague victims come down with the bubonic form the other forms of plague are septicemic plague and the mnemonic plague they relate to infections of the blood and of the lungs if you get the Bubonic plague you'll feel like crap and get a fever and a headache and you won't have any energy you'll then get little lumps on your body these are swollen lymph nodes and we'll call them bubos and that's kind of a cute word fitting for a cartoon character of a cute puppy but bubos are nasty things and they hurt a lot the Bubonic plague as was discovered by millions of people hundreds of years ago can be deadly the bad news is it's estimated that if it's left untreated it will kill 66 to 93 percent of its victims the good news is these days we can treat it with antibiotics and the mortality rates now for treated people is anywhere from 1 to 15 percent okay so on the first day there was Jesus and Jesus picked up a at narrat had fleas and Jesus was bitten by one of them that terrible flea was only doing what fleas do and it certainly wasn't aware that it was carrying something called the yersinia pestis bacteria it passed this ungodly bacteria to Jesus and on the second day Jesus spread the word of his rat story to others and others later died on the sixth day Jesus was a dead man so within the rat community of this poor Los Angeles neighborhood there were fleas carrying the plague and you certainly didn't want to get up close to one of them by the way when animals transmitted disease to humans we call this zoonosis Jesus was what we called the index patient which means he was the first reported case soon after he found the stinky dead rat he developed a painful lump in his groin and felt really unwell the problem is that bacteria had spread to his lungs and so Jesus was capable of spreading the plague around through Airborne droplets of the bacterium it then turned into the more deadly mnemonic plague which is transmissible to humans his doctor didn't believe he had the plague and said instead he had some kind of venereal disease and that was why he had swollen lymph nodes that was a deadly mistake that doctor made because Jesus passed the mnemonic plague to his daughter her name was Francisca and she experienced respiratory problems and the doctor said she had pneumonia not the plague a week later she was dead the cause of death was wrongly stated to have been double pneumonia but any medical professional should have had plague on their mind you see in the year 1900 it's thought that a ship that landed in San Francisco which had come from China had a rat living on it that rat or rats disembarked at the city and then went scurrying around all of them carrying deadly fleas in their fur people later started dropping dead from what certainly looked like the plague but the city didn't close the port and tried to convince people there was no plague on U.S soil a plague outbreak is very bad for business most of the media did the same and wrote headlines like this one no genuine plague Sensational stories are without Foundation the headline was wrong and from 1900 to 19 8 there were 280 plague cases and 172 deaths in San Francisco the city did a good job of Exterminating the Vermin but those fleas had a habit of jumping onto other animals those animals including those deer cuties the squirrels traveled around a bit and eventually the plague reached La in 1924 shortly after Francisco died a pregnant woman who'd been taking care of her also died and she had the same symptoms her name was Lucena samurano and soon her entire family of eight would also be dead her house 742 Clara Street was called the death house lucena's cause of death was listed as heart disease soon her husband became ill and died her friend got it and died and eventually all her kids got it and died in fact a lot of the folks who went near that house got very sick and died within days so really heart disease then a Catholic priest who had given last rights to some of the deceased came down with the exact same symptoms and guess what he did the talking at lucena's funeral service at 7 42 Clarence Street and as you can imagine in that small tight-knit community a lot of folks turned up to that service the priest died too these people had no idea what was going on and looked up to the heavens and asked God for answers when they really should have been looking onto their floor ports the authorities should have known sooner since one doctor that traveled to that poor neighborhood a place where people live an absolute squalor noticed that there were a lot of very sick people some of them could hardly breathe and some were deathly ill a few people were taken to the hospital but still the diagnosis was not plague with different doctors saying it must be meningitis or influenza or pneumonia or even typhus okay so you think that the people would have been shouting plague from the Rooftops by now but it wasn't until one month after Jesus kicked the bucket that a Los Angeles County Hospital pathologist identified the disease and announced hey guys we got a plague outbreak going on here that doctor a guy named George Manor stepped up and said this looks like plague with the help of a colleague he looked through a microscope and what he saw was the deadly yersinia pestis bacteria beautiful but damned said Manor after seeing the true cause of deaths in that Community meanwhile friends and relatives of the deceased kept dying either in hospitals or in their own homes people panicked they isolated themselves the blame game came next and quite a few not so intelligent people from outside the neighborhood started saying things such as this is a Mexican disease ninety percent of those that died were indeed Mexican but that didn't mean it was a Mexican disease that just had been the unfortunate folks who had no choice but to live in squalid houses where there were lots of rats quarantined then began in the neighborhood where the disease had started was sectioned off and guarded by police and volunteers no one in no one out was the order given and what they called the Mexican District around 1800 to 2500 people were confined to that district and at the same time Panic ensued all over the USA especially when people read headlines like this one which was published in the New York Times mnemonic plague takes seven more victims how has that ancient disease gotten here in the new world people screamed the Black Death is on our doorstep other shouted La for many Outsiders was the picture-perfect postcard Paradise of the USA Health authorities soon started telling all people in the city to keep their homes clean an announcement was given Gatherings of all nature must stop movie houses were empty and kids were kept away from school La was in the grip of a great panic and when trolley cars went near the Damned neighborhoods the conductor shouted no one gets on and no one gets off Los Angeles mayor won George Cryer called an emergency meeting present were Health officials and also anyone with big business interests in the city the question was should they shut the city down and how much would that damage business some emergency procedures were set in place but there was no City shutdown anyone suspected of having the plague had been sent to a special part of the county hospital Funeral Directors were ordered not to embalm the bodies of Mexicans or anyone else whose death was of undetermined causes soon five urban districts were cordoned off by rope and then around them stood 400 quarantine guards some of those guys had fought in the first world war so these were some tough dudes no one in no one out and another order no shooting well they did shoot any dogs cats or chickens that got too close to them Charities got together and delivered essential items to those in quarantine and brave medical workers visited the neighborhoods meanwhile rumors persisted in the U.S that hundreds of Mexicans were dying in those sectioned off neighborhoods the cleanup started and it was fierce houses were ripped apart some entire Shacks were burned to the ground petroleum and sulfur were sprayed in houses and lime and rat poison were scattered everywhere within months around 2500 buildings had been completely destroyed and yet no compensation at all was granted to the people who had been displaced from their home one La resident later commented on what he saw from outside one of those neighborhoods he said it was an eerie sight to see the sky-high Flames at night and Reflections in the river as well as the shadowy figures of firemen running around the quarantined area the neighborhoods in the Macy Street District in Little Mexico with their ramshackle dwellings were pretty much burned to the ground it was the best of times and the worst of times because some people were kind and helpful to those quarantined people but others were not so nice LA's Chamber of Commerce Chief actually implied that the problem was Mexicans and how they lived some people risked their lives going into those neighborhoods to help out Mexican bands turned up outside the quarantine areas and played music for the people inside at the same time others used the disease to propagate xenophobia and racism against Mexicans and other minorities something that we often see in times of Crisis even today what happened next was the great rat extermination program the city spent a whopping 250 thousand dollars on finding and killing those flea carrying pests that amounts close to 4 million in today's money it wasn't only the Mexican neighborhoods that got the treatment poor neighborhoods consisting mostly of Russian Chinese and Japanese immigrants were also part of the program in fact a neighbor hood that was back then called Chinatown was also pretty much destroyed what's surprising is that it was only when the occupants of those quarantined neighborhoods saw this going on that they found out that rats were the problem and that they had been dying of the plague they'd actually been kept in the dark as to what was happening in fact the media had been told not to make a big issue of what was going on certain media urged people not to join in the hysterical gossip about a plague killing hundreds of people one La official had a meeting and warned the attendees no disease known has such an effect upon the business world as the plague some journalists wrote that the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce had tried to play Down what happened because of the possibility of economic collapse and land values dropping remember that the City of Angels back then was seen to be the place to be and if it became the place of the plague people would leave and tourists would turn their backs on the city the quarantine and rat extermination program worked and in the end around 30 people lost their lives to the plague the main problem was that it was turned into an ethnic disease and many people lost their homes and got nothing back when the Black Death plague hit medieval England it left a trail of Destruction in its wake up to half of the population was wiped out by the plague which makes you wonder what happened to all the bodies of the Black Death plague victims imagine this the year is 1348 and you're just a poor humble monk from a small Parish in the countryside near London England you live in ordinary Monk's life serving a poor rural people but today is no ordinary day today you've taken the long journey from the countryside into the city to attend the Royal courts you can scarcely believe it but today you're going to be speaking to the king of England you can't help but be excited even if your mission here is a grim one after waiting for hours in a crowded outer chamber you're finally summoned into his Majesty's presence you're sweating profusely under your Monk's robes as you focus on making it through the formalities without embarrassing yourself or accidentally insulting the king your majesty you say there's a plague preying upon your loyal subjects the first sign of illness is a sudden fever and weakness which quickly progresses to swollen lumps in the armpits neck and groin followed by a blackening of the skin most who catch this Dreadful disease die a horrible painful death within just a few days yes yes the king says irritably I'm aware of this pestilence there have been reports from all over the realm for months now what exactly do you expect me to do about it shouldn't you monks be praying about it or something oh this isn't going the way you'd hoped you scrambled to turn things around uh of course your majesty is right your faithful people do not blame you for the plague nor did they expect you to end it sire the reason I've come all this way is rather more practical well what is it then get on with it it's the body sire you say in a rush they're piling up faster than we can bury them well get some more gravediggers shouts the king oh of course your majesty excellent advice but um the thing is we're quite rapidly running out of room for the bodies in our graveyard in the last week we've had dozens of deaths in just our small Parish alone and it's only getting worse by the day the huge number of bodies that must be buried are quickly filling up our little graveyard and threatening the prime plots reserved for our gracious Nobles we'll be out of space completely in a matter of days at this rate now the king actually looks worried we knew this plague was bad he says but we had no idea it was this deadly we've heard of a few cases around the city but nothing like what you described if what you say is true and if it were to spread to the cities we would be drowning in bodies the king is quiet for a few moments as he Ponders all that you've told him finally he looks at you and says it's settled then monk I'm making you my official master of body disposal you are charged with overseeing all aspects of the handling and disposal of the bodies of the victims of this Dreadful plague you have the full backing of the crown and all of our resources available to you so there's no excuse for failure you uh can't believe it you don't know what you were expecting but it was not this you're grateful you'll have all the resources you need to help your Parish but the new responsibility you have is daunting to say the least the king is already dismissed you and moved on to his next petitioner so you carefully leave the chamber being careful never to turn your back on his Royal majesty and begin the long journey home you have a lot to think about by the time you arrive back at your church you are full of plans and ideas the first order of business is to use your new power and influence to secure some extra land using the king's resources you purchase several acres of land adjoining your graveyard from a local Lord and quickly consecrate it since being buried outside of an official Church graveyard was considered a terrible fate for your Eternal Soul next you turn your attention to the burial practices themselves before the plague broke out people were used to being around death and bodies people died at home their bodies were laid out in the church for a few days of prayer and vigils and the church's graveyard did double duty as a public gathering space the bond between the living and the dead was strong and the dead were kept close at hand but with the fear of the plague spreading as fast as the disease itself people are starting to fear the dead believing their bodies might spread the disease one of the most radical measures you implement is a ban on some traditional funeral practices families will no longer be able to have their loved one's body displayed in the church and family members won't be allowed to attend the burial which will take place more quickly another huge change will be the shift from Individual burials to mass Graves instead of individual Graves which take up more time and space large pits are dug and the bodies are wrapped in shrouds and carefully arranged in rows until the pit is full you take care to ensure that each and every departed Soul receives appropriate funeral rides even if it's a shared stripped down more practical version finally in a stroke of self-professed Brilliance you sprinkle the Earth near the pits with vinegar since you believe it helps to stop the spread of the play a few weeks later although the play continues to rage the body situation in your parish is much more under control you're feeling pretty good about yourself and the progress you've made when a messenger arrives with an urgent summons from the King he wants to see you in London immediately this can't be good the king barely lets you through your kneeling and groveling before he tears into you you're supposed to be my master of body disposal I put you in charge of managing the bodies from this dreaded play so why pray tell are the bodies piling up in the streets of my city you know you need to act quickly to save your own neck literally the King has a reputation for separating the heads of those who displease him from their bodies by some miracle though you escape with your head intact but you also have a huge new responsibility clearing the bodies of the Black Death plague victims from the king's cities you know you won't be given another chance to redeem yourself you get right to work tackling the new challenge of managing bodies in an urban setting although the king told you of the shocking methods he's heard about being used in other countries such as burning the bodies or burying them on unconsecrated ground you can't bring yourself to violate your religious vows even in the midst of a play so you implement the same changes to funeral rights and burial practices as you did in the countryside but you quickly realize that much more drastic measures will be needed in the densely populated urban areas you order Mass Graves to be dug on any plot of available land throughout the city to accommodate the tens of thousands of bodies these plague pits as they would go on to be known are much larger and deeper than the modest Mass graves in the countryside in some areas bodies are stacked as much as six feet deep before a pit is filled in in the densely populated cities fear and hysteria can spread just as fast as the disease itself to combat the fear you implement a law that requires any home with a sick person in it to be marked with a red cross and the occupants to be sealed inside you assign Watchers to keep guard over marked homes to ensure no one leaves and to pass along supplies people are rightfully unnerved at the sight of the bodies being moved through the cities so you hire teams of Searchers and bearers to handle the bodies at night under the cover of Darkness Searchers are people usually women whose job it is to examine dead bodies and determine if they'd die to the plague bearers would pull a cart through the city streets at night calling out bring out your dead and collecting the bodies of plague victims who had died during the day due to the unsavory nature of their jobs Searchers bearers and gravediggers were forced to identify themselves publicly and remain apart from society which suited most of them just fine as the Bears and gravediggers were usually rough drunken men and they were even known to rob the corpses of the victims sadly alike up to half of the population of England you are brave and ingenious monk will not survive the Black Death plague despite your best efforts an estimated one-third to one-half of the population of London died in the plague so you might have succumbed to the disease yourself although we wouldn't be surprised if you met a more Sinister and at the hands of the displeased King but your legacy lives on and modern scientists Architects and even developers continue to find evidence of your work all over England plague pits have been Unearthed all over modern London there's the Lincolnshire Mass grave with 48 skeletons including 27 children stacked neatly in rows charterhouse Square in farringdon has the largest mass grave in London home to an estimated 50 000 victims of the Black Death plague historical records tell us that the bishop of London purchased a property outside the city dubs no man's land to bury plague victims and that when it quickly filled a local landowner bought the adjacent 13-acre property where excavations had revealed body stacked five feet deep in places from historical records we can also learn about the immediate aftermath of the Hasty Mass burials of plague victims sources mentioned many annoyances in the wake of the plague including terrible stenches as bits of coffin shroud and decomposing bodies found their way to the surface churches spent small fortunes filling and leveling the sights of these plague pits to deal with the unpleasantness the East Smithfield Cemetery in London was used only during the black death of 1348-1349 so the 600 bodies buried there can tell us a lot about the plague victims from studying the skeletons we've learned that the death rate among Royals and higher nobility was as low as five percent compared to 45 percent among the clergy researchers Sharon in DeWitt from the University of South Carolina and Marianne kowaleski from Fordham University published a paper in 27 teen about the Eastfield bodies and they concluded that the elderly those who were impoverished and those who suffered relatively poor health faced higher risks of death than their younger wealthier and healthier peers the plague left Social legacies too the labor shortages resulting from The Staggering death rates accelerated the decline of serfdom and the rise of the peasant class as new opportunities opened up to the poor indentured serfs the Black Death also drastically changed the way people thought about death once accepted as the inevitable conclusion to a well-lived Christian Life Death was now a thing to fear something that could strike you down without warning and wipe out entire families and communities the horrors of what happened to the bodies of Black Death plague victims forever changed the relationship between the living and the dead the Renaissance which lasted from 1300 to 1600 was a period marked by the Revival of learning about ancient Greece and Rome and so was aptly named the word renaissance even means rebirth it was a time when art philosophy music and radical thought all abounded the whole world was turning its eye to Beauty as inventions like the printing press and Telescope proved to be revolutionary but in the late 1400s the music stopped for a time a new disease sometimes called the Grand virul or great pox by the French what we now call syphilis was a malady the likes of which Italians or the later World had never seen and more importantly had no immunity toward what started as genital ulcers led to fever or rash and body aches months later painful and foul smelling sores began appearing on people's bodies and green acorn-like boils protruded from their skin their bodies were covered in scabs and swollen with tubercles which started off as bright red and then progressed into a repulsive black color sores became ulcers that ate into their bones destroying their noses lips and eyes sometimes extending to the throat the flesh falling off the sufferer's faces made them unrecognizable what we in modern times treat as and understand to be a fairly benign sexually transmitted disease caused a deadly epidemic in the middle of the Renaissance that killed up to 5 million people evidence which includes reports from Scholars at the time and woodcut drawings indicate that this syphilis was more virulent than what we see today a much more contagious deadly strain that killed people at a quicker rate and while the virus that is causing today's coronavirus pandemic and the one that caused the syphilis epidemic aren't related it seems likely that now more than ever the entire world can empathize with that fear of the unknown that people in the Renaissance faced just as we do today and perhaps we can even learn something from how Humanity dealt with the epidemic in the past German humanist Joseph grunpeck who eventually fell prey to this syphilis outbreak called it so cruel so distressing so appalling that until now nothing more terrible or disgusting has ever been known on this Earth and Albert who later etched artistic woodcut portrayals of sufferers wrote God save me from the French disease I know nothing of which I am so afraid near really Every Man Has it and it eats up so many that they die syphilis didn't have a proper name when it struck and because it was the first disease to be discovered after the printing press was invented news of it was spreading almost as quickly as the disease itself it was also the first sexually transmitted disease to be recognized as such making it one of the first times morality around sex and its implications had ever been brought into the discussion surrounding disease the trajectory of its spread across Europe and then globally looked like this by late 1495 it had spread throughout France Switzerland and Germany and reached England and Scotland in 1497. according to the Journal of military and Veterans Health Scandinavia Britain Hungary Greece Poland and Russia were all hit by 1500 just 20 years later it expanded its Global grip and touched Africa China Japan and Oceania syphilis for the most part is not a death sentence in contemporary times thankfully its rate of spreading looks nothing like what Italy saw at the end of the 15th century and it doesn't turn people in into zombies anymore while transmitted through sexual contact it's also spread skin to skin through contact with the sores it causes it has three phases primary syphilis the first of these is when a single sore or a canker will appear usually about three weeks after an initial infection secondary syphilis occurs two to eight weeks after the primary phase when a non-itchy rash might appear coupled with coarse reddish brown spots on the soles of the feet and on the palms of the hands in some cases though the rash can be so subtle that it goes completely unnoticed the secondary phase could also be accompanied by fever and swollen lymphs along with other flu-like symptoms if left untreated the last stage of syphilis or the tertiary stage is also the most dangerous maybe the most terrifying part of it though is that it could Strike 10 to 20 years later about 15 to 30 percent of those infected with syphilis Reach This stage which can wreak havoc on the brain nerves eyes heart blood vessels liver bones and joints today early treatment usually involves the use of antibiotics often one injection of penicillin G but if it's in its very latent stages three doses of the shot are given in weekly intervals while it's not possible to repair damage that's already be done by the infection the medicine will usually stop it in its tracks it wasn't until 1943 that penicillin was discovered to be an effective treatment for syphilis so much too late for the 15th century Italians but more on that later it's been over 500 years since the outbreak in Italy and its origin is still being debated up until the early 1900s Scholars had thought it'd been brought from the new world to the old by Christopher Columbus in his travels in 1493. that was disputed in 1934 when a new hypothesis put forward claimed syphilis existed in Europe even before Columbus this is also supported by the writings of Hippocrates where it seemed like he was describing the symptoms of syphilis in its tertiary form and then some more recent Studies have reverted back to the original idea that Columbus was in fact responsible for bringing it over so as you can see nobody really has gotten to the bottom of John parskandola author of sex science and sin a history of syphilis in America noted in an Atlantic article though that most Physicians agreed it was a new disease that hadn't been seen in Europe one theory is that it all started when 50 000 French troops who were under the command of King Charles VII invaded Italy in August 1494. Charles wanted to take over Naples in the hopes that he could use it as a staging point to launch a Crusades and his troops might have brought the STD with them on their campaign to prepare for a holy war findings by a team from Emory University in 2008 support the idea that it might have also been possible that Columbus and his men brought along with them a non-venereal strain to the infection that would eventually evolve into the pathogen we're familiar with today after it was introduced into the old world Naples was a place with a lot of brothels so as the soldiers were fraternizing with the prostitutes and City dwellers the deadly spiral of contagion might have begun when they infected the prostitutes who passed it on to the next client and then slient and the next client well you get the picture adding to the unfortunate vicious cycle of infection women and wet nurses could also transmit it to babies while nursing University Scholars at the time of the outbreak desperately tried to get to the bottom of how it was spreading eventually catching on that was primarily spread sexually although this didn't stop other outlandish ideas from arising some blaming the alignment of the planets that it might have originated from the boils of job or that this might all be the punishment of an Angry God who was disgusted by fornication one of these Believers was Maximilian the first Rome's holy emperor in 1495 who thought syphilis must have been God's punishment for blasphemy an international Blame Game soon arose with everyone pointing the finger at Nations they believed were at fault the French thought Italy was most likely responsible so they called it the Neapolitan disease or the disease of Naples or clearly having a hard time deciding who the real culprit was the Spanish disease the English and Italians both blamed France so they referred to it as the French disease the gallic disease or more boost calicus the Turkish called it the Christian disease the tahitians called it the British disease in India it was called the Portuguese disease in Japan it was called the Chinese pox and then some just called it the Persian fire which we'd say is probably the strangest of all the name syphilis comes from the Latin poem syphilis siwe morbus galacus but guiller lamo francostoro which was published in 1530 and translates to syphilis the French disease in it the protagonist a Shepherd named syphilis enrages the Sun God and is punished with the disease the verses where the name comes from go like this a Shepherd once distrust not ancient Fame possesses these downs and syphilis his name he first wore bubos Dreadful to the site first felt strange pains and Sleepless past the night from him the malady received its name the neighboring Shepherds catched the spreading flame they tried treating syphilitic patients using mercury and Mercury ointments which really only made their conditions worse many of them dying from mercury poisoning Mercury treatments had the side effects of severe nerve damage kidney failure mouth ulcers and loss of teeth to help you imagine what the heinous Mercury treatment was like SV Beck the author of syphilis the great pox described it like this a patient undergoing the treatment was secluded in a hot stuffy room and rubbed vigorously with the Mercury ointment several times a day the massaging was done near a hot fire which the sufferer was then left next to in order to sweat this process went on for a week or a month or more and would later be repeated if the disease persisted other toxic substances such as vitriol and arsenic were also employed but their Curative effects were equally in doubt some other early treatments included blood leading or the removal of blood in order to treat the disease which had also historically been used to treat smallpox the Bubonic plague and epilepsy laxatives and baths and wine and herbs or olive oil were also used some healers also mistakenly thought sweat baths would help rid the body of the syphilis related toxicities aside from their attempts to treat patients there were also measures local governments took like the Edinboro Town Council that mandated their brothels to close by the 16th century guayacom also known as Hollywood was considered a treatment coming from the Dominican Republic it ended up becoming the first drug administered to treat syphilis in Europe it was soon Allowed by doctors and people like Ulrich Von Hooten a German scholar who suffered from the disease during the last 15 years of his life and eventually died from glycam treatments came in the form of ointments and Potions but perhaps the most vile was as an enema which provoked diarrhea then the patient was supposed to sit and sweat in a hot room for 40 days and then fast we don't need to tell you that this didn't work but the healers at the time continued to swear by it 21 tons of guayacom reached Seville between 1568 and 1608 with the import finally tapering off in the 18th century fast forward to 1928 the year when Alexander Fleming a Scottish scientist discovered that one of his uncovered Petri dishes close to an open window had become contaminated with with mold and his curiosity was peaked when he realized that the bacteria near this mold were dying isolating the mold that was responsible for this he named it penicillium genus and discovered it fought all gram-positive pathogens or the nasty ones responsible for diphtheria and infection of the nose and throat gonorrhea meningitis pneumonia and scarlet fever he also later found that it was not just the mold itself but a juice that it had produced that destroyed the bacteria this mold juice became penicillin and then as it so often does history repeated itself soldiers during World War II began to experience a rash of venereal diseases pun definitely intended nearly five percent of draftees in 1942 had syphilis according to a medical paper published in the journal military medicine penicillin proved to still be effective when doctors at a U.S marine Hospital on Staten Island in New York gave it to four patients who were in the early stages of the disease curing them of it the following year doctors published a study on how effective penicillin injections were when they were given every few hours for eight days according to Business Insider syphilis saw a Resurgence again in 2014 when the CDC reported that there were close to 20 000 cases which weren't as bad as the record high number seen in the 1990s but still concerning as a result the U.S preventative Services Task Force suggested screening those who are at a higher risk every three months the reason for this Rising cases because the disease often goes undetected sometimes causing no symptoms leading to carriers spreading it without realizing hmm maybe it is a bit like the coronavirus after all want to hear more about diseases check out our video is covid-19 a modern black plague or click this other video over here instead