How long did the black death last

The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mids. The plague arrived in Europe in October , when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying surprise: Most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus.

The plague is thought to have originated in Asia over 2, years ago and was likely spread by trading ships , though recent research has indicated the pathogen responsible for the Black Death may have existed in Europe as early as B. Europeans were scarcely equipped for the horrible reality of the Black Death. Blood and pus seeped out of these strange swellings, which were followed by a host of other unpleasant symptoms—fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, terrible aches and pains—and then, in short order, death.

The Bubonic Plague attacks the lymphatic system, causing swelling in the lymph nodes. If untreated, the infection can spread to the blood or lungs. People who were perfectly healthy when they went to bed at night could be dead by morning.

How many people died from the black death

Did you know? Today, scientists understand that the Black Death, now known as the plague, is spread by a bacillus called Yersinia pestis. The French biologist Alexandre Yersin discovered this germ at the end of the 19th century. They know that the bacillus travels from person to person through the air , as well as through the bite of infected fleas and rats.

Both of these pests could be found almost everywhere in medieval Europe, but they were particularly at home aboard ships of all kinds—which is how the deadly plague made its way through one European port city after another. Then it reached Rome and Florence, two cities at the center of an elaborate web of trade routes. Today, this grim sequence of events is terrifying but comprehensible.

In the middle of the 14th century, however, there seemed to be no rational explanation for it.