Yersinia Pestis
Yersinia Pestis
Yersinia Pestis is the most virulent, contagious, and deadly infectious diseases in global history. The death toll of this bacterium is nearly half a billion through various pandemics. The most deadly and well known pandemic caused by Yersinia Pestis was the the Black Death aka The Black Plague. However because Yersinia Pestis can manifest in three different ways, pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic, (bubonic being the most deadly and common) it has popped up multiple times through the early, middle, and modern ages. Yersinia Pestis is so deadly, that out of all of the diseases and pandemics that have been cast upon this planet it is the only one officially and colloquially known as “The Plague.” Studies have concluded that the plague has been the cause of catastrophic declines in global population multiple times in recorded history. Some scientists in fact, through genetic testing have dated the emergence of the plague to about six thousand years ago, to what was called the Neolithic Decline. Although it’s not completely proven, anthropologists, geneticists, and historians have come to the consensus that the plague might have been responsible for the first marked, drastic population decrease (Neolithic Decline) in recorded human history.
Before we go into The Black Death of the 1300’s and how it changed the world, it’s worth noting that to this day there are still many cases of Yersinia Pestis around the globe and there is currently still no licensed or substantially proven vaccination against the plague. There are scores of different approved treatments and ways to “cure” the disease but it is still extremely virulent and deadly. Even with prompt antibiotic treatment and good hospital care, in the United States alone 10% of people who contract the plague die. Every year, worldwide there are still thousands of cases of the plague according the the CDC and WHO.
The Plague is responsible for three of the deadliest global pandemics in human history. The most notable being The Black Death, but the other two are certainly worth noting. The first being the “Plague of Justinian” and the other simply know as the “third plague pandemic.”
The Plague of Justinian (No One Left to Die)
The Plague of Justinian occurred in the latter part of the sixth century. It must first be noted that because of the primitive record keeping, the infection and mortality rate are strictly estimates. However, the conclusion is that this outbreak killed between twenty five and one hundred million people. One other fact worth mentioning is that these numbers are of the known world at the time. So the numbers are strictly based on Eurasia and doesn’t account for the possibility of the plague having spread to Africa and even the Americas at the time. It’s possible, however unlikely the disease spread globally but still, these extraordinary numbers are confined to Eurasia only. As I have stated earlier many historians and scientists speculate that Yersinia Pestis might be six thousand years old, but the Plague of Justinian is generally regarded as the first recorded epidemic of the disease and is responsible for killing over 40% of the known world population at the time.
This was an extraordinarily primitive time in human history. Not many things were done to reduce the spread of the disease. There were no scientists or doctors as we would recognize them and it is widely regarded that the spread of the disease ceased because there was simply no one left to die.
The most consequential outcomes of The Plague of Justinian is that it essentially “finished off” of the Roman Empire. Although Justinian I was a Byzantine Emperor, Roman traditions and government from the ancient roman empire were still continued and maintained. However due to the plague whatever was left of the Ancient Roman Empire was left behind and allowed for the rise of the Byzantine Empire to fully establish itself throughout Eurasia.
The Black Death
By 1340 the world had already suffered through multiple outbreaks of different diseases. The world was an extraordinarily disgusting and unsanitary place. The early stages of trade and economy as we know it had been established. Large population centers in major cities had become quite common. There was a population boom, and at that point in history the population of Europe had never been so high. It is widely concluded that the Black Plague originated somewhere in Central or East Asia where it traveled along the silk road on fleas, rats, and people in and around 1342. The disease had reached Crimea by 1343 and from there ended up on Genoese merchant ships, again via rats and fleas. The disease spread throughout all of the Mediterranean and finally up through Italy to the rest of Europe. By 1347 not a single part of Europe was unaffected by this pandemic. Entire countries were ravaged by the plague and when all was said and done it is estimated to have killed between seventy five million and two hundred million people. It was responsible for the death of forty to sixty percent of the known global population. I took almost two hundred years for Europe’s population to recover to its pre-plague numbers. Italy being the hardest hit, took until the nineteenth century to recover its previous population levels.
The Renaissance
Out of all that death and carnage its hard to see anything good that might of come from such a devastating global event. As I said earlier Italy was particularly ravaged by the Black Plague, being the epicenter and conduit of the disease to Europe, it makes sense that they lost and quite possibly suffered the most. Most historians agree, that the plague caused a paradigm shift in Italy and the rest of the world. The carnage and familiarity with death forced the Italians to dwell and focus more on their lives on earth rather than the spiritual and afterlife. This is not to say that people became less religious. Quite the contrary, in fact the Renaissance is known for a new wave of piousness that fostered the sponsorship of religious sculptures and artwork. Artists like DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, to name only a few. It’s called the Renaissance because all aspects of life were reevaluated and contemplated like never before. Both secular and non-secular thought for thirst time were allowed to coexist.
Greece having been ravaged by the plague, the invasion of Constantinople, and the subsequent fall of the Byzantine Empire forced many greek scholars to settle in Italy bringing their texts and philosophy with them. To be specific they settled in Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance. If I were to go into any more detail as to how important the Renaissance was to course of global history, the length of this essay would quickly get out of control. In short, the Renaissance led to a monumental shift in human thinking that led the human race out the middle ages and into modernity. The renaissance leads to the reformation, which leads to the scientific revolution, and eventually the enlightenment, which is where most of modern philosophy is drawn from today.
The End of Feudalism
The plague did not pick and choose who to infect based on wealth and power. It affected the rich and powerful equally. When the dust settled around 1351 economically everything had changed. The price of food and land had dropped around 30%-50% in most parts of Europe. Land that was inherited and handed down through generations was now freely available to settle because there was no one alive to accept the land as inheritance. If land was inherited, in many cases it was given to family members and people very low down on the feudalistic chain. With food and land now plentiful and cheap, it lead to a more egalitarian society in many parts of Europe, particularly in Italy and France. This new egalitarian way of life contributed to the Renaissance and subsequent time periods. People enjoyed their freedom and self determination.
Sanitation and Hippocrates
Many things changed during and after the black plague. Many measures taken to prevent the spread of the black death, are considered effective and still implemented today. When it became evident that rats, mice, fleas, and mites caused the spread of this disease, cities particularly the Italian ones would “Trentine” ships and people. Which means they had to stay at sea or in port for thirty days to see if the disease was spreading on the ships. If it was deemed that these ships were “clean” they would be able to unload their people and cargo. Later and in other cites it was determined that forty days was a more effective time period, hence the term “Quarantine.” Today Quarantine has evolved to strictly mean isolation for any particular length of time. But its etymology can be traced directly back to the Black Plague. Quarantines of ships and people are considered one of the most vital measures taken at mitigating the spread and ultimately ending the black plague.
Plague was a constant throughout Europe up until the 1700’s. It was never fully eradicated but if a city seemed to be having an outbreak it would be isolated from the rest of Europe. Travel to and from that city would be banned and for the most part contained the virus to pockets of Europe for short periods of time. The spread of the plague would never reach the levels it did from 1347-1351. The reason for this goes back to the introduction of greek philosophers and scholars. People did not know that Hippocrates published a paper on the importance of Air, Waters, and Places for the preservation of public health. Because of the printing press and renaissance, Hippocrates’ “On Airs, Waters, and Places” became ubiquitous through Europe. Public sanitation from the 1350s-1700s were all based on the principles outlined by Hippocrates nearly two thousand years earlier. Using these principles over a two hundred year period, cities in Europe created waterways, sewers, isolation of the sick, garbage removal, sanitary ways to dispose of the dead, and vast amounts of other sanitation methods all with the consideration of preventing the spread of plague and other diseases, many are still standard practice in major metropolitan areas today. These sanitation methods have proven to be most effective in preventing the spread of disease in a modern society. Now all people have to do is use their clean running water to wash their hands.
Conclusion
Yersinia Pestis in many ways influences the way we approach pandemics today. It was so deadly and so contagious that that out of terror it caused a global shift in the way that we think about public health, sanitation, and infrastructure. The indirect effects lead to the down fall of Iron and Bronze Age traditions and values. It literally ushered in a renaissance of human thinking that culminated with the embrace of science, math, technology, education, and self determination.
