How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kin and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world.!”

                                                                Giovanni Boccaccio

 The Black Plague

Bodies being thrown into a pit for burial

Shocking Facts About Black Death

There are many shocking facts that humans should know about the Black Death and yet have never given a second thought.  If you were to ask someone if they thought the Black Plague was a disease of the past, most would answer  that it was a disease that no longer  exists in the world.  They would be extremely surprised to learn that  the Bubonic Plague is still very much a presence in the World.  The last known and reported outbreak occurred on June 14, 2006 in the  Central African country of the Congo.  Measures to control the epidemic were very difficult to implement because of the continuing security problems in this war-scarred country.   Since the World Health Organization was not able to  deliver the needed antibiotics, one hundred deaths were reported due to plague.  

     There have even been many  cases reported in the United States, mostly in the Western area of the country.

 

     Even though infected fleas (the vector of the disease)  and rodents are found in every country in the World, with the exception of Europe and Australia, there is nowhere in the World that is truly safe from the Plague.   Due to International travel and commerce  certain epidemics are able  to spread to other parts of the world in the wink of an eye.

Click here to view microbe size.

The Congo in Africa

Travel makes the spreading of disease easy.