Essays on Fleas

Many historians note that the fourteenth century was an era that saw many natural and man-made catastrophes. The Black Death and the Great Famine were two of the natural disasters that caused the deaths of millions of people and demonstrated the impact of the vulnerabilities in the Western part of the European society. At the start of the fourteenth century, the population in Europe grew to the extent that the land provided resources that could support the region under the most excellent conditions. In fact, there was no margin for the failure of crops or the shortfalls in the ...

Personal context

One of the most significant philosophers in the mediaeval times is Ibn Sina as it is recorded in the film and the novel The physician. The novel and the film depicts Sina as having great knowledge in diverse fields including mathematics, chemistry an physics that makes him ranked among the most famous Islamic scientist. In the movies, one is taken aback to the ancient ways of handling pain and diseases like a tooth ache. How could they perform surgical operations such removing the appendix without the sophisticated tools is fascinating. Sina had diagnosed and attempted to treat diseases that had ...

History

The bubonic plague was one of the worst in the history of mankind. Reason for this was that it wiped out millions of people throughout the world. In Europe alone, it killed more than a third of the entire population. The bubonic plague, commonly referred to as the Black Death originated in China in the early 1330s. The main way that the plague spread from one way to the other was through rodents like rats but its effects were spread even faster since even smaller insects like fleas could carry the disease also (Bentley and Ziegler, 256). Aside from rodents ...

Scientific discovery and technology have had far reaching positive and negative impact on the society from time immemorial (Neumann and Tunis 378). Though there is no universal definition of technology, a succinct definition is offered by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, as "the practical application of knowledge " in solving problems or inventing some other useful things (Merriam-Webster Para 1 and 2). In the movie The Physician, Philipp Stölzl depicts the role of medical technology in solving mysterious infections and maladies, the laborious challenges undergone by the medics to acquire medical technology and how social and religious belief antagonizes technological development. This ...

1. Location: Mandritsara (Madagascar) 2. Diseases listed: Malaria, Dengue, Plague 3. Details of the outbreak On 10 December 2013, BBC news/Africa reported a deadly outbreak of the bubonic plague in a village near Mandritsarad in Madagascar. The outbreak that occurred a week earlier, was revealed after the death of 20 people in the village. Tests conducted on the bodies by The Pasteur Institute in Madagascar, certified that the death was related to the bubonic plague. Since unhygienic conditions are the main causes for plague dissemination, a program was implemented to exterminate rats, fleas and cockroaches to avoid the spread and ...

More than half a millennia after the Black Death first ravaged Europe and the Middle East, it is still studied and analyzed with morbid fascination. This disease epidemic is so memorable today because it was such a destructive and fearsome plague, spreading as quickly as it did between individuals, primarily from 1346 to 1350, and demonstrating a worst-case scenario when a disease is not understood well and conditions favor disease spread. The Black Death is primarily a disease of small mammals like rats, and is transmitted by fleas. The organism directly responsible for the disease is a bacterium (Yersinia pestis). Once rats, plentiful in ...

CONSEQUENCES OF PLAGUE

Plague was the leading Couse of death in the Afro Eurasian world, in this essay I am going to discuss the long term effects of plague on the Afro-Eurasian world. In addition, I will discuss the ramifications on the social, political and economic sectors for the Western Europe, China, and Islamic Empire. Back then plague was referred to as the Black Death and myths came up that God had sent the plague. It is thought to have originated from Central Asia specifically china travelling along Silk Road until reaching Crimea in 1346. It is thought to have spread ...

Introduction to Microbiology

The history of microbiology dates its origin back to 1674 when a Dutch merchant, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was able to see, for the first time, microbial organisms. The invention of the microscope was, however, the most important step towards the development of microbiology. Microscopic observations made it possible to study and understand bacteria and other microscopic organisms. The discovery of the use of cowpox in the vaccination against smallpox, by Edward Jenner, was a major development in immunity. However, it represented only a small area in the field of microbiology. Therefore, the description of Jenner as the “greatest microbiologist of all time” ...

Rabbits have been the worst invasive species that have been reported in Australia. They have widely spread in Australia leading to a massive destruction of the Australian environment. Rabbits have caused devastating effects on the ecosystem since they are believed to be the main factor in species loss in Australia. They have caused a lot of damages on crops and also destroyed and killed young trees and plants. In addition, rabbits cause serious problems on soil making it unproductive. Rabbits feed on native plants leaving the top soil bare and exposed making the land vulnerable to soil erosion. Rabbits have contributed ...

Prior to this period in history china experienced an economic revolution and expanded its influence on the surrounding areas. It was then that it was invaded by the Islamic tribes like Mongols who were nomadic. Bearing that pathogenia was spread by fleas that infested both animals and humans it can be doubtlessly proven that from this nomadic tribe fleas emanated and spread the disease hence by the 9th century it is possible that Y-pathogenia was present in China. Likewise X-actogenia evolved by the same mechanism.

Similarly in the 14th century Europe also underwent economic and social changes. Many people ...

The Black Death was one of the most devastating episodes of plague to ever hit Europe; in the late 1340s, the Black Death raged through towns and cities.1 How the plague began, the vectors of the plague, how it spread, who it affected, as well as the social, political, and economic ramifications of the plague are all important topics to explore in understanding the overall impact of The Black Death during that time to western society. Many researchers believe the Black Death began in somewhere in China in the late 1930s, where its natural hosts, “various species of ...

Bubonic plague is an infectious disease caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae (Cunningham 6). Fleas from one rodent to another spread the disease. Humans get the disease when infected fleas bite them. Consequently, patients develop swollen lymph nodes around the fleabite site known as buboes. When the bacterium reaches the lungs, infected persons develop pneumonic plague. This spreads from person to person through droplets released when coughing. At this stage, patients die within 24 hours. The deadly bubonic plague outbreak on medieval Eurasia first occurred in China around 1330s and spread to Western ...

The Black Death is the name used in reference to the plague which swept across much of Asia, Europe and the Middle East during the 1300s (Morillo et al, 2005, p385). In short, it was a devastating blow to mankind and the estimated number of deaths caused by the Black Death runs into the millions with educated estimates saying that it killed between 30-60% of Europe’s population alone (Alchon, 2003, p21) which meant the world’s population was reduced from around 450 million people to around 350 to 375 million. The Black Death was the second instance of plague – ...

The Black Death

Introduction

The Black Death stands out as one of the most destructive pandemics to occur in human history that claimed many lives in Europe between 1348 and 1350. The underlying cause of the pandemic has been a controversial subject, characterized with different perspectives concerning the explanation for its cause. The first reports of the Black Death were in Europe during the summer of 1346 and this occurred in the town of Caffe in the Crimea. The city of Caffa was under siege by the Tartars who would launch corpses infected with the disease over the walls of the city with ...