black plague/where did it start and can it happen again

THE BLACK PLAGUE

The Black Plague of the Middle Ages is thought to have originated in India about 1332 , but this is not certain . There were reports of bubonic Plague outbreaks in China prior to that date . In the 1330 's unusually dry , windy weather caused Chinese nomads to migrate in search of food and water , along with their pack animals and relocating , hungry rodents

The Plague is caused by bacteria normally resident in field mice , ground squirrels and marmots (rodents similar to woodchucks . Flea bites carry the germ from rodent

to rodent , and it is normally not fatal to its hosts . If a flea bites a non-immune animal , the animal will die . The fleas then leave that body for a new host . If the fleas bite humans the epidemic begins . The plague began to spread through cities after they attracted large numbers of scavengers , especially the black rat

The black rat , a nimble climber , could scoot up mooring ropes as a result , it was carried from India to the eastern Mediterranean and eastern Africa . From Egypt , the rat and plague went by ship to Constantinople and to the ports of Europe

The European seaports knew that a wide-spread , deadly plague was raging in the East . People heard rumors of the disease 's progress . India was depopulated , as were Mesopotamia , Syria , Armenia , and other neighboring countries . Nobody thought the plague would spread to Europe . The plague did not hit Europe with full force until 1346 , when a new route for overland trade with China provided rapid transit for flea-infested furs from China . Traders returned from Asia , China , India , and the Middle East to Genoa and Venice in Italy . From there the disease went as fast as ships could travel to other Mediterranean ports and then to cities on Europe 's Atlantic coast and along Europe 's main rivers . People fled the port cities and died of plague in roadside ditches . In 1347 , when the weather turned cold , bubonic plague had spread through most of Southern Europe . The deadlier , pneumonic form traveled father and reached England in 1348 . It also spread eastward from Asia towards Moscow by land , and by ship to the Persian Gulf , the Arabian Peninsula , and the Nile Delta

Black ' death had several meanings in the 1300 's , including dreadful or terrible . The plague has and has three well-known forms , bubonic pneumonic , and septicemic . The term Black Death ' was first used two centuries after the second plague pandemic began . Until then , Europeans referred to it as The Great Dying

In the Middle Ages , nobody understood the disease 's cause . They guessed at ways to cure it , finally quarantining arriving ships for forty days This failed to contain the disease since the rats jumped ship . Some people did notice that when the plague arrived , dying rats left their hiding places to die . The concept of contagion itself did not even exist at this time

Certain professions suffered higher mortality , especially those whose duties brought them into contact with the...