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The Chances Of Surviving The Black Death
Current Archaeology ^ | 3-29-2008

Posted on 03/29/2008 4:52:00 PM PDT by blam

The chances of surviving the Black Death

Why did some people survive the Black Death, and others succumb? At the time of the plague – which ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351, carrying off 50 million people, perhaps half the population – various prophylactics were tried, from the killing of birds, cats and rats to the wearing of leather breeches (protecting the legs from flea bites) and the burning of aromatic spices and herbs.

Now it seems that the best way of avoiding death from the disease was to be fit and healthy. Sharon DeWitte and James Wood of the University of Albany, New York, have examined 490 skeletons from the East Smithfield plague pit in London and found that the Black Death was selective in picking off the already frail. Lesions (damaged bone) associated with earlier episodes of infection, under-nutrition or other forms of physiological stress were present in most of those buried at East Smithfield, where the dead were stacked five deep in the mass graves on a site hurriedly opened on land donated by the Bishop of London.

‘This actually contradicts what many have assumed about the epidemic, says Dr DeWitte. ‘The pattern we observed is of the Black Death targeting the weak, though it did also kill some people who were otherwise healthy. This is consistent with an emerging disease striking a population with no immunity’.

During the plague, physicians wore a beaklike mask which was filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the miasmas or bad air thought to carry the plague. The hat and the long, black overcoat was designed to minimise skin exposure. Exposed skin was also coated in wax or suet to protect against droplet contamination (see illustration).


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antonineplague; black; blackdeath; blackplague; bubonicplague; byzantineempire; death; epidemic; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; justinianplague; justiniansplague; plague; plagueofathens; plagueofjustinian; publichealth; romanempire; sharondewitte; yersiniapestis
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To: blam

Our ancestors who survived bequeathed us stronger, healthier genes.


21 posted on 03/29/2008 6:38:07 PM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: DakotaGator
Right you are. I knew a man who died of the plague he picked up rabbit hunting in eastern Oregon in the early 80s. The doctors didn't figure out what he had until it was too late.
22 posted on 03/29/2008 6:47:26 PM PDT by stormer
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To: blam

(repost from a previous FR thread on The Black Death/Plague)

Link to the site for the Black Death episode on PBS’s “Secrets
of the Dead” series.
A good show about who lived, who died and maybe why.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_plague/


23 posted on 03/29/2008 7:32:59 PM PDT by VOA
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To: blam

HillaryCare. That is the ONLY answer. Our ONLY hope.


24 posted on 03/29/2008 7:55:20 PM PDT by LiberConservative (Part of the "Vast Typical White Guy Conspiracy")
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To: blam

I thought this was going to be a thread about Obama.


25 posted on 03/29/2008 7:57:28 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: blam

Ah yes. Even the children remember.

Ring around the rosey
(the buboe or symtom of the plague)

A pocket full of poseys
( a nosegay of flowers to cover the smell of death)

Ashes, ashes, we ALL fall down.
(everyone dies)


26 posted on 03/29/2008 8:08:35 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Rastus
"I thought this was going to be a thread about Obama."

LOL!

27 posted on 03/29/2008 8:27:43 PM PDT by Hound of the Baskervilles ("Nonsense in the intellect draws evil after it." C.S. Lewis)
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To: blam; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; 49th; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

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28 posted on 03/29/2008 8:32:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_____________________Profile updated Saturday, March 29, 2008)
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To: blam

The very best way was to have two parents that both had the Delta-32 mutation.


29 posted on 03/29/2008 8:43:55 PM PDT by djf
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To: blam

I followed the link, to a couple of others. Absolutely mind-boggling.


30 posted on 03/29/2008 9:12:19 PM PDT by Judith Anne (I have no idea what to put here. Not a clue.)
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To: blam; DakotaGator
The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people.

And it still does. Ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and the enviro-weenies' favorite - the black footed ferret - all are flea bags. A veritable plague incubator, long recognized and consequently nearly eradicated. Also one of the reasons you don't hunt rabbits until after a good hard frost. Every few years a case of plague shows up NW Colorado; fortunately some old sawbones recognizes the symptoms in time.

31 posted on 03/29/2008 9:21:03 PM PDT by kitchen (Any day without a fair tax thread is a good day.)
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To: Myrddin

Now there’s something you don’t run across every day ;-) Glad the treatment worked!


32 posted on 03/29/2008 10:01:19 PM PDT by DakotaGator
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To: stormer

Pretty bad.

I had to insist on one set of innoculations. Otherwise the medical powers that be would have failed me...as they did your friend.


33 posted on 03/29/2008 10:03:51 PM PDT by DakotaGator
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To: kitchen

Horrifying how all of the old scourges are returning! And that in no small part due to the environazis!!


34 posted on 03/29/2008 10:10:20 PM PDT by DakotaGator
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To: DakotaGator
I just got done watching “I am Legend” with my son. Will Smith against the diseased Zombies in Manhattan. I mentioned to him that it won't surprise me when some type of deadly epidemic does come again (probably NOT zombies though ;) It is only a matter of time. And PERHAPS with the better technology we have nowadays we can stop it/slow it down before it kills 50% of us.
35 posted on 03/29/2008 10:20:30 PM PDT by 21twelve (Don't wish for peace. Pray for Victory.)
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To: DakotaGator
Me too. I did my graduate work in pathogenic bacteriology. I was floored when I heard the lab results.
36 posted on 03/29/2008 10:35:33 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: blam

Bump


37 posted on 03/29/2008 10:45:17 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: blam

It was noted that the rich who drank out of and ate off from silver came down with the plague less often. Silver is a known germ killer.


38 posted on 03/30/2008 12:39:45 AM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: Spktyr
Not killing off the cats that kept the rats carrying the fleas in check wouldn’t have hurt either.

Right. China is killing off their cats, which were many, to prepare for the Olympics. They better watch out for a plague. They are killing the cats horribly.

39 posted on 03/30/2008 12:44:52 AM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: 21twelve
I just got done watching “I am Legend” with my son.

Check out "28 Days" and "28 Weeks Later". I think they were both superior movies to Will's Smith's work.

40 posted on 03/30/2008 5:09:47 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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