The Plague, Bawth, the Plague ... Achoo! Quiz

Answer: The Gobi Desert

It is generally accepted that the pestilence, spread by ground rodents, started somewhere in the Gobi Desert (China) in the early 1320s. It then followed the caravan routes through China, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Egypt. After making its way across the Mediterranean Sea via a fleet of Genovese ships, it eventually landed at Messina, Sicily in October 1347. Already, thousands were dying by the day.

To quote Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca":
"Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

(At least from the perspective of the rat, the flea, and the bacteria all preying on some medieval guy named Louie).

Answer: Septicaemic and Pneumonic

Symptoms of the Bubonic type included nausea, various aches and pains, vomiting, and the appearance of blood-pus boils under the armpits and in the groin area, called buboes. Fatality rate was 30-75%.

Symptoms of the Pneumonic type,the only one transmittable by air (sneezing, coughing), included vomiting up of blood-red sputum (spit). The fatality rate was 90-100% with death within a week.
Symptoms of the Septicaemic type, the rarest of the three, included high fevers and deep-purple discolouration of the skin. The fatality rate was also 90-100%, with death within 3-7 days.

The Plague of 1347-51 was termed Black Death due to a symptom called acral necrosis, the purplish-black appearance of the victims' skin caused by subdermal hemorrhaging.

Some recent publications have sought to refute the traditional causes.

1) Graham Twigg (1984) postulated that the plague was due to pulmonary anthrax caused by Bacillus Anthracis. ("The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal").

2) Gunnar Karlsson (2000) noted that while over half of Iceland's population succumbed to the disease, there were virtually no rats present in that country at the time. ("Iceland's 1100 Years: The History of a Marginal Society")

3) Epidemiologists Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan of Liverpool University (2001) have suggested that an Ebola-like bacterium was the cause, based on the estimated incubation period and transmission speed of the disease. ("Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer")

4) Historian Norman Cantor (2001) has put forth his view that a combination of plagues, including a form of anthrax, was the culprit.("In the Wake of the Plague")

The Plague touched all the countries of Europe. Its effects were so varied in its path of destruction, that many theories and arguments are still being put forth to satisfactorily explain what events and/or bacteria combined to frustrate all efforts by the populace to contain the spread.

To quote Jagger (Mick):
"I can't get no satisfaction!"
(From the perspective of the voracious flea).

Answer: Both rat and flea died

The infected rat suffered the same fate as the human, dying within a week. When the bacterium (Yersinia Pestis) from an infected rodent was ingested by the flea, the flea's stomach became blocked. This resulting hunger drove the flea in search of food, biting and feeding voraciously on its new victim, the human. Infected flea blood then passed on to the host while the flea died of starvation.
The cycle continued.

The bacterium, Yersinia Pestis, resembles a chromosome strand.

It was named after the Swiss bacteriologist, Alexandre Yersin, who identified it in 1894.

Answer: Walls

One belief was that the loud noise of cannons and bells would chase the Plague away. Another was that the sweet smell of burning incense would drive away the (infected) stench of rotting bodies. Sellers of various talismans and charms did a thriving business but that didn't help the poor suckers, only lightened their pockets. The people of Milan, Italy, literally walled up houses that had the disease, trapping sick and healthy occupants alike. Whole families were doomed in this way, but the Plague was temporarily kept in check.

Answer: Alfonso XI of Castile ( born 1312 )

Whole villages were wiped out while larger towns and cities suffered 50% mortality due to cramped conditions and person to person proximity. The entire structure of the clergy was affected and so was the medical profession, since they both dealt with the sick on a daily basis. Historians, such as (the Florentine) Villani, died in mid-sentence, unable to complete their chronicles.

Alfonso XI (August 13, 1312-March 26, 1350), a.k.a. Alfonso the Just, died during a siege of Gibraltar. During his lifetime, he fathered ten children with a certain Eleanor of Guzman while neglecting his wife Maria, daughter of Afonso IV.

Philip VI (?, 1293-August 22, 1350) died at Nogent-le-Roi and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica (Paris, France) beside his second wife, Blanche de Navarre (1330-1398). His first wife, Joan (the Lame), contracted the plague and died in 1348.

Edward III (November 13, 1312-June 21, 1377) died of a stroke brought on by severe constipation (ouch) and was buried in Westminster Abbey (London, England). During his lifetime he successfully defeated the French forces at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, accompanied by his eldest son Edward (the Black Prince).

Afonso IV (February 8, 1291-May 28, 1357) died in Lisbon, Portugal. He was credited with funding naval explorations that led to the discovery of the Canary Islands (now a part of Spain).

Answer: The Marmot ( large squirrel )

Yes, it's true. It's that cute furry puffball all right.

With the exception of the Black Rat (Family Muridae), the plague culprits belong to the Family Sciuridae. They include marmots, tree squirrels, chipmunks, ground squirrels, woodchucks (a.k.a. groundhogs, a type of marmot), Eurasian flying squirrels, and prairie dogs.

Interesting note: It was the marmot, and not the rat, that was likely responsible for most of the plague outbreaks in history. The rat happened to be the bearer of bad tidings among the general population. It therefore can be argued that the marmot deserves (at the very least) equal billing with the rat as villains in the deaths of millions.

Answer: Black rats and fleas

According to the theory, the (more common and deadly) black rat perished in the Great Fire and was replaced by the brown rat, which was less likely to transfer the deadly bacteria to humans than its counterpart did. With no host to actively transfer the germ quickly, the threat soon went into hibernation.

Black rat. Brown rat. Big rat. Small rat. The only good plague rat is a dead rat.

Hmmm...got the urge to scratch yet?
Check for black buboes?
Look for rat droppings?

Answer: Ring a Ring o' Roses

The earliest printed reference to "Ring around the Roses" (aka "Ring a Ring o' Roses") was the publication of Kate Greenaway's "Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes" in 1881, and the earliest known handwritten version dates from about 1790. The simultaneous existence of slight variations of this nursery rhyme, which in no way could be connected to the Plagues, cast doubt on any connection whatsoever.

The earliest suggestion of a nursery rhyme-plague connection might have been in the 1961 book "The Plague and the Fire" by James Leasor.

This is one classic example of a "germ" of an idea that took flight, became an urban legend,and today still trip up many an interested reader.
(Urban Legends Reference Pages at www.snopes.com)

Answer: The Spanish Flu

No investigation into pandemics would be complete without a mention of the Spanish Influenza (virus).

-World War One accounted for 15 million casualties.
-World War Two claimed 62 million lives.
-A.I.D.S., since first identified in 1981, is responsible for 25 million deaths worldwide ( up to 2005 ).

The Spanish Influenza of 1918-1919 is believed to have been responsible for between 70 to 100 million deaths worldwide!
It affected every conceivable place on Earth with the exception of Marajo, a tiny island at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.

The flu did not originate in Spain. It was termed " Spanish " because Spain's media, not involved in WWI and therefore not censored, was able to give the Flu greater coverage than any other country at the time. The flu was actually rumoured to have originated in chickens (being prepared for a military meal by a cook) at Fort Riley in Kansas, USA.

The Spanish Flu ( H1N1 strain ) is very similar to the modern bird flus ( H5N1, H5N2 ) that are currently being monitored in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The Hong Kong Flu ( H3N2 ) of 1968-69, killed an estimated 750,000 people, and was a mutation of the original 1957 Asian Flu ( H2N2 ).

Smallpox, a virus deadly only to humans, killed an estimated 300-500 million people in the 20th century alone. The earliest physical evidence of the virus was found in a rash on the mummified body of Rameses V, an Egyptian pharoah who died in 1157 B.C.. In 1979, the virus was declared eradicated, although cultures were retained by the CDC in the USA and the Institute of Viral Preparations in Siberia, Russia.

Answer: The Reston

The Reston strain was first identified in Phillipine macaques imported into Reston, Virginia, USA, in November, 1989. The only airborne strain of all the Ebolas, it has proved to be very lethal to monkeys.

Ivory Coast Ebola is only known from a single infection to a scientist performing a necropsy on a wild chimpanzee in 1994. He survived.

Twenty cases of Sudan Ebola have been reported since May, 2004, the first occurrence. Average human fatality rate is about 50%.

Zaire Ebola, first reported on August 26, 1976, is the deadliest and most re-occurring of all, with a 90% human mortality rate.

The Marburg Filovirus is related to the Ebola virus but it triggers a different antibody in humans. The filovirus resembles a french fry.

Common symptoms of Ebola infection in humans include dizziness, fever, headache, and nausea, eventually worsening to bloody diarrhoea, severe vomiting and bleeding from the body orifices. Definitely not a preferred way to pass on!

The Ebola viral particle resembles a ( sometimes semi-knotted ) shoestring.

It has been proven that the different forms of Ebola are not from one prototype that attempts various mutations, but instead spring up as independent viruses. This revelation has cause for concern by scientists and health professionals trying to isolate and study the origins of Ebola.

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This quiz is dedicated to:
- Those who strive to make this world a healthier and safer place for our children.
- Rebecca and Benjamin.

Special thanks to Messrs. Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize for the inspiration for my quiz title (from the TV series, Fantasy Island).
(The plane, boss, the plane...Tattoo)

(Thank you for playing my third quiz creation.)