The Black Death

  The Black Death was a horrible plague that greatly effected the European population around 1348.  The disease was passed around by infected fleas carrying the bacterium Yersina Pestis which comes from rats and other small animals.  The Black plague came in three different forms bubonic which was the most common, pneumonic and septicemic, the rarest of the three.  When someone was infected with the bubonic form of the plague one symptom concluded of large painful swellings around the neck, armpits and groin.  When these large tumors appeared it usually signaled that the person infected had a week or less to live.  Not as common as the first, the second form of the plague was a respiratory infection targeting the lungs.  People could be infected with this form of plague if they were breathed on by a someone who was infected, there was no escaping the plague.  People with this infection had life expectancy of 2 to 3 days.  Finally, the septicemic form which was the most uncommon.  This form of plague caused skin to turn dark shades of purple also known as DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation).  As soon as symptoms of DIC began to show often the victims died the same day.  The black  plague had greatly affected Europe almost wiping out their whole race but once the plague came to an end survivors repopulated.