P is for Plague

O is for Oil Spill Q is for Quasar Explosion

P is for Plague

My theme for my 2015 A to Z Challenge came from my Disaster Crimes series. Disasters are a theme in each story, so it got me thinking about all the disasters that occur from natural disasters to manmade disasters.
Today’s disaster is...PLAGUE
Throughout history plagues have ravaged the world. I’m going to highlight a couple here.
Yellow Fever: an acute viral disease passed by mosquitoes with symptoms of fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains and headaches. This fever often caused liver damage which resulted in yellow skin and eyes, and “black vomit” from stomach bleeding. The first major American epidemic occurred in Philadelphia in 1793. At the time, Philadelphia had been the most cosmopolitan city in the United States.
FACT: 5,000 out of a population of 45,000 died and another 17,000 fled Philadelphia.

Yellow Fever Virus
Image from Wikipedia
READING: I read a great YA book about this: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. I highly recommend it to all!
The Black Death: one of the deadliest plagues in history. The origins of this plague is still unknown. Symptoms were the appearance of buboes (swelling of the lymph nodes) that oozed pus and bled. This was followed by a fever and vomiting of blood. Most people died within 2-7 days after infection. 75,000 – 200,000 people worldwide died from the Black Plague.
FACT:Because the causes were unknown, religious persecutions followed the Black Plague, which resulted in the destruction of 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities in Europe.