Communicable Disease Orgin

By Author: Sabrina Russel
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The history of humanity is known for many cases of pandemic episodes. Cholera, smallpox, typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, and other diseases have been the reasons for pandemics over the centuries. The plague was one of the most dangerous and deadly diseases that took more than 60 million people only during two decades in the 14th century.
The plague itself “ is caused by Yersinia pestis, a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium. One bacterium is enough for a deadly dose. Xenopsylla coreopsis (the Indian rat flea) is the carrier for the plague bacteria. Only the rat flea adult females can feed on their hosts’ blood. The fleas are quite resistant and they can be found in rat nests, in rat dung, and on dogs, squirrels, as well as other rodents for 6 to 12 months before the fleas, find their host.
Usually, infected parasites live on rats. However, often, the bacterium in the flea’s gut multiplies rapidly, and it infects the animal. It acquires a disease called the plague. After the rats’ death, the fleas leave the rodent’s body for the search of a new host. As they can jump far enough, the fatal ...
... disease spreads quickly. When an infected flea bites an individual, his inguinal lymph nodes enlarge to the size of an egg over a matter of days. The nodes called buboes cause incredible pain and putrefaction. The bubonic plague causes blood infection and death. The latter occurs in 50-75% of cases.
Sometimes, plague bacteria can reach the person’s circulatory system directly, causing the rupture of blood vessels. This disease is called septicemic Plague (or Black Death) and the mortality rate is 100 %. Among the infected population, the plague can mutate, and it can spread to the lungs. Lung (pneumonic) plague begins like the common flue and ends with bloody cough and death. The mortality rate is 100% as well.
There were three pandemic episodes of plague. The first episode was called the Plague of Justinian, and it lasted from 541 to 542 in the Byzantine Empire. The second pandemic outbreak was the most crushing and terrible one. In the 1330s, the black Plague (or Black Death) appeared in China, and it had spread into Europe through maritime trade in October of 1347. It should be noted, “Up to 2/3rds of the population in major European cities succumbed in the first two years of the pandemic.
However, there was the third pandemic episode in the world history. It began in China in 1855, and in 1900, the plague outbreak was registered in San Francisco because infected rats from the ships penetrated the city. San Francisco Department of Public Health (n.d.) says that naturally occurring plague causes an average of 5 to 15 human cases each year in the western United States. Cases of plague were mostly spread in the southwestern United Stateыю
In the Middle Ages, citizens of towns lived in terrible unsanitary conditions. They poured filth and threw garbage through the windows, and all this dirt contaminated drinking water. The narrow and winding streets were too dark with little access to sunlight that could kill the plague, which also contributed to the spread of infectious diseases. Therefore, “Amid the chaos, the pandemic prompted more useful responses - early public health measures to be expanded and then refined in the coming decades”.The most effective method to fight against the plague was quarantine. People prohibited ships from infected areas to arrive in their towns. Individuals had to spend 30-40 days in isolation or quarantine. Dead plague victims were collected and reburied according to sanitary conditions. Exports, imports, market trading, and travels were limited. The infected people and those who treated them had to live in the separate buildings specifically constructed for that purpose.
Improvement of the quality of drinking water and sanitation conditions, the increase of quality of food as well as control over the infected people decreased the possibility of future infections. Nowadays, epidemiological surveillance is conducted in different institutions like San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).
In conclusion, it should be noted that AIDS, mutations of influenza, malaria, etc. are the pandemics of the 21st century. The plague is not as dangerous as in the earlier centuries. Therefore, the population should control the incidence rate and create all conditions for the prevention of the pandemic.

Sabrina Russel is a dreamy romantic person. She likes writing and walking alone. Also, she is a freelance writer at a https://manyessays.com/. This company has every possibility to complete any orders for students.