Bubonic Plague
In the early 1330s, the Bubonic Plague first hit China where it infected rodents such as squirrels, prairie dogs and rats. Fleas transmitted the bacteria from rodent to rodent, but as the plague began to take a toll on the rodent population, fleas began looking for another host; thus, the spread of the bubonic plague among humans. During the 1330s, the plague festered in China, killing many people; a 1331 epidemic killed nearly 90 percent of the population in the province of Hebei (near modern-day Beijing). Since China was a busy world trade nation, spread of the disease to western Asia and Europe was imminent. In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip out on the Black Sea - a major trading route and main link to China. The ship docked in Sicily with most of the crew already dying, and the disease spread throughout the city within days. By August of 1348, it spread to England where it was named the "Black Death" mainly because of the black spots created on the skin. The bubonic plague was diagnosed from symptoms such as: inflamed lymph glands, and hemorrhaging of these inflammations known as buboes (gave the name bubonic plague), fever, and spots on the skin that start out as red, but lat
An explicit difference in the reactions was how people within each religion treated one another. In the Christian world, citizen avoided citizen, parents left their ill-stricken children, and brother forsook brother. Whereas in the Muslim world, this seclusion did not occur, if a man fell to death, men near him would carry him to a place and bury him there. Muslim people often put their lives in danger, and many died doing this admirable deed. However, if someone from the Christian world saw someone dead from bubonic plague, they avoided the corpse at all costs. A vast difference I see in the reactions of Muslims and Christians to the bubonic plague is how the people lived their lives after the disease struck. In the Christian world, there were three types of people; one type locked themselves up, - avoiding luxuries, kept their minds preoccupied with music and other such activities. Then there were people who lived freely - drinking and carousing- they saw their behavior as the "sovereign remedy" and partook in such activities because death was imminent. These people threw caution to the wind and lived life with wild abandon. Then, we have the people who found middle ground from the above extremes. They avoided becoming recluses but did not allow themselves the license to drink and revel; they lived with the freedom to satisfy their appetites not only for food, but also for life. In stark contrast is the reaction in the Muslim world. The Muslims determined that those who committed and/or participated in certain acts of depravity would succumb to the disease. The Mu
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Approximate Word count = 1072
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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