medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 10:04 AM +0100 8/18/01, Pip Patrick wrote:
> > It is generally believed that this was Bubonic Plague, which was also
> > epidemic in London in 1665.
>
>My supervisor (Tony Waldron: palaeopathologist/palaeoepidemiologist)
>believes that the 1348 Black Death cannot have been bubonic plague - it
>doesn't make sense epidemiologically. 40% or so of the population of
>London died in the 1348 epidemic; but bubonic plague only has a case
>fatality rate of about 5%. He believes it is more likely that it was
>*pneumonic* plague, which has a much higher case fatality (nearer to
>90%, I seem to recall), and is more contagious.
And there's been an article making the rounds recently hypothesizing
that the 1348 plague, at least as it manifested in England, could
have been caused by something like the Ebola virus, which would also
account for the high fatality rate, the rapid transmission, the fact
that winter didn't seem to slow it down much, and apparently one or
two of the physical symptoms that don't quite fit the classic bubonic
plague picture.
I'm sure sooner or later someone will get around to the DNA testing
(or the viral equivalent) and the results should be interesting,
either way.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/blackdeath_010730.html
(this link wasn't working for me at the moment, but try the one below)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/highlights/010801_blackdeath.shtml
--
_________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning
| <[log in to unmask]>
+ Davis, California
_________________________________________________________
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|