Know everything about Bubonic Plague - the last pandemic, How did it end?

The disease outbreaks have ravaged the world throughout the history of human civilisation. Several endemics, epidemics and pandemics have occurred in the past, which left a lasting impact on humankind. There have been times when pandemics changed the course of history, whereas, on several occasions, they threatened to end the entire civilizations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic proved to be the most devastating medical disaster taking the lives of millions of people across the world. Besides Covid-19, medical disasters like Spanish flu, Antonine plague, Cocoliztli epidemic, Ebola virus, HIV AIDS also have wreaked havoc in the past in different parts of the world. Among such disaster which continues to find its mention even today is the Bubonic plague also known as the Black Death. This 14th-century pandemic travelled from Asia to Europe, reportedly wiping out over half of Europe's population. 

Buboes changed the course of Europe's history 

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the bubonic plague was caused by a strain of the bacteria called Yersinia pestis and was spread by fleas on infected rodents. Its symptoms included fever, headaches, vomiting, and swollen and painful lymph nodes, also known as "buboes." It is said that the plague changed the course of Europe's history. With so many deaths, the bodies of victims were buried in mass graves. The disease was held responsible for the Plague of Justinian, which had originated in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century CE, later affecting China, Mongolia and India. 

How did the pandemic end?

As people of that era considered the Black Death as a kind of divine punishment for sins against God, physicians of that time began with superstitious treatments that were dangerous and unsanitary. Those practices include burning aromatic herbs and bathing in rosewater or vinegar. Apart from this, bloodletting and boil-lancing were performed on patients. However, later some sense prevailed among the medical experts of those days as superstitious treatments failed to yield any result. They understood that the disease was spreading through proximity, and then the concept of quarantine was introduced. The people were placed into strict quarantine of 30-40 days which stopped the spread of the virus. This is how the word quarantine was coined by the Western world. The term has become very common since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, and its practice is being proved much helpful in arresting the spread of the Covid-19 virus. 

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