Biological Disaster: Plague

by: Aisha Nazreen Sabal

Group - 4 Southern Mindanao
Biological Disasters
Pandemic Outbreak
Plague Yellow Fever
COVID-19 Measles
H1N1 Endemic
Epidemic Leptospirosis
Cholera
HIV/AIDS
 OUTLINE

1 What is Plague?
2 Three major Plague
pandemics 3 Three Causes of
Plague

4 Scientist behind
Plague Discovery
 What is Plague?
Also called Pestilence.
Is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis.
 How was Plague transmitted?
It was transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected fleas.
 Three Major Plague Pandemics

Third Pandemic
A.D. 1855
Plague of Justinian Black Plague
A.D. 541 A.D. 1348
I swear it wasn’t me!

I wasn’t even in
Constantinople at the time!
 Three Causes
Increased International Trade
Rising Urban Population
Lack of Medical Knowledge
Increased International Trade

• Silk Road
• Facilitated the movements of
germs
Plague of Justinian (AD 541-549)
The first Plague Pandemic.
In the sixth century outbreaks began
in Egypt and then transported through
international trade to the centre of the
Byzantine Empire.
Approximately 10,000 people a day
were dying.
Plague of Justinian (A.D. 541-549)
Justinian ordered vast pits to be dug to
dispose of the rotting corpes; when
these overflowed, bodies were stuffed
into the towers of the city walls with
quicklime poured over them to spread
up decomposition.
The plague spread throughout western
Europe where it became endemic.
Rising Urban Population

• Crowded neighborhoods
• Accumulation of waste
• Unsanitary living conditions
• Cities became incubators for
germs and diseases
Black Death (A.D. 1348)
Second Pandemic
“Great Mortality”
Originated in Asia
Killed millions in China and the
Middle East
Wiped out roughly a third of
Europe’s population
Black Death (A.D. 1348)
Anti-Semitism greatly
intensified throughout Europe, as
Jews were blamed for the spread
of the Black Death, and many
Jews were killed by mobs or
burned at the stake en masse.
Lack of Medical Knowledge
Some medieval cures/preventive measures for the plague:
• Plague is a scourge from God for your evil deeds - by
scourging yourself with a whip like flagellant, then God
has no reason for scourging you with plague.
• Apply a mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and
human excrements.
• Bathing should not be avoided, and be done with vinegar
- alternatively your own urine.
• Quarantine people for 40 days.
• Place a live hen close to the swellings to draw out the
pestilence then drink a glass of your own urine twice a
day.
Third Pandemic (1855)
Last Plague Pandemic
Began in China and spread
globally at the end of the
nineteenth century.
Scientists behind Plague discovery

Helped developments in:

• Microbiology
• Medicine
• Urban Planning
• Sanitation

KITASATO
ALEXANDRE YERSIN
SHIBASABURO
Was COVID-19 worse than
the Plague?
Refferences:
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Death/Cause-and-outbreak
• https://www.britannica.com/event/plague-of-Justinian
• https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague
Thank You!!!