Black Death

There have been many killers in the history of the world. There have been serial killers, there have been murders. But none of them can compare to these two killers. Aids and The Bubonic Plague(The Black Death) They have been the worse killers because when they strike, we have no way of curing them. Both of these diseases are fatal. There is no cure for them. That is what makes these two so frightening and scary. We have no idea where these two epidemics came from, there have been stipulation but no single person can say where they originated or who or what brought either of the two. Eventually the Bubonic plague stopped after claiming 1/4 of Europe's population. Unfortunately Aids does not look like it will die down any time soon. These diseases have been the worse killers of our time. But there are some similarities between the two.

The Black Death(Bubonic Plague) began in Central Asia in the 14th century in the mid-1300's. It was said to have lasted over 400 years. Its symptoms were the swelling of the armpits and other areas of the body, mostly the groin and the neck, another symptom would be rings around your cheeks, the main symptom was black patches around the skin caused by bleeding around the buboes(swollen lymph glands). About one fourth of Europe died within a few years after the Plague was introduced to Europe in 1347. Europe wasn't the only place to be hit with the Plague. The Far East was also affected by it to, though not as severe as Europe was. Many scientists and people believe that rats and other rodents brought the epidemic to Europe. Most Epidemics are most likely to occur when rats live closely with humans in areas where there is poverty with poor sanitation and that also share an environment with wild rodents that have plague bacteria. The bubonic Plague eventually came to an end. It ended for many different reasons. Seasonal or weather changes can greatly affect the survival of the rodent host or fleas. Measures were also taken to control rodents and fleas, sanitation measures were also taken along with the use of antibiotics to prevent the disease. When the Bubonic Plague first came to Europe nobody knew what to do. The affects that it had on Europe was tremendous. Entire villages and cities were taken out by the plague. Areas as far removed as Italy and England were devastated by the Plague, it is said that they fell by seventy or eighty percent. This was without a doubt Europe's greatest natural disaster. All though there are no exact figures it is estimated that one-fourth of Europe's population died from the infection of the Plague. Before the Plague started Europe was a very crowded continent. even though there was pressure on the land, stability was still there. About fifty to one hundred years before the plague the population was normal, there was no noticeable changes. The food costs were high and they had many famines, but none were severe enough to send the population plummeting. Then the plague struck with force and the population suffered tremendously. During the plague people did not know what to do. They had no answers, but many questions. People questioned god, they asked him why is he doing this to us. Some people believed that they were being punished by god.People did not know what was going on, so what they did was they turned around and blamed anything for this. A big target for some people was the Jews, for some insane reason people believed that they were the reason for the plague. Many people went around and killed the Jews for this reason. People believed that they could get the disease by breathing the same air as the infected people. As a result of that it was very hard to find doctors or people to help the sick. Others were believed to have an immunity to the disease. They were the ones that mostly helped out the sick. It became so bad at one point that when the found an infected person they lock them in a room so the disease could not get out. The Black death was a terrible terrible thing. If it happened in this day and age we would have a natural disaster on our hands. We now have another epidemic like the bubonic Plague. It is called AIDS.

Aids is today's Bubonic Plague. We have yet to find a cure for it and have no idea where this disease came from. There have been speculations but nobody has been able to pinpoint its origin. It is fatal and once you get it, there is no way of stopping it. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS has infected and killed thousands of people worldwide. The death rate is as high today as it was four years ago. In a time where their is so much technology and medical advances, it is baffling to people that a cure has still not yet been discovered. On the upside to that, scientist believe that since there is so much technology and medical advances that one day they will find a cure. AIDS has caused the kind of panicking and suffering of the Bubonic