Watched a program tonight about the Black Death(bubonic plague) in England.Circa 1340.

40% of population died in absence of medical attention.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 01, 1999

Answers

Apparently the corpses still contain the germ, which can be released by flood, excavation, etc. Happened around (I think) 1940 when workers uncovered previously unknowm gravesite while constructing a bridge. Plague _did_ get loose and killed a couple before identified and controlled. Still there, looking for new friends.

-- A. Hambley (a.hambley@usa.net), August 01, 1999.

Bubonic plague still exists, carried by rodents in the American southwest. Pops up every couple of years.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 01, 1999.

Anthrax stays in the soil too, many years.

-- hard to (get@rid.of), August 01, 1999.

There were 3 major waves of the black death in Europe in the 14th century. At the end of the century, the population of Europe had declined by 2/3.

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), August 01, 1999.

It's a little known fact that many of the Middle Ages individuals who DID NOT get the black plague were the perfumers.

At the time, they worked with all the extracts of healing natural botanical plant materials, many of which have naturally occuring anti- biotic and other qualities/properties.

Aromatherapy today, and aromatherapist-grade essential oils, have a lot to offer the Y2K world. Medicinal herbs too. Although the E.O.'s are about 50 times more concentrated in their healing "essence."

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 02, 1999.

We knew a real person (young woman) who died of plague that she contracted in SW U.S. in 1980s. CF Mad Monk. Family and friends were flabbergasted. And it went wrongly diagnosed at first.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), August 02, 1999.

Plague is also endemic in the Middle East. I was vaccinated for bubonic plague in Beirut back around 1958. Lots of nasty diseases still lurk in that part of the world.

-- seraphima (seraphima@aol.com), August 02, 1999.

I thought it was an interesting snippet of information.The program also mentioned some of the economic consequences.Villages were abandoned & the remaining workers could charge what they liked.Since the UK was primarily an agrarian country at the time there were also food shortages since there were not the workers to gather & harvest & plant for a number of years.As mentioned the plague came back on two more occasions.

Diane...now your comment was VERY interesting.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 02, 1999.

Chris,

Only a dusty old dog would start a more depressing thread than you do ...; ) There are currently 10 to 12 cases of plague in NM happening right now. The rodent population carries the plague, as well as the hanta virus, here in the desert southwest. Since the La Nina weather pattern formed, (easterners can you say heat wave???) our "monsoon" season has started about two months early. This place is GREEN. The increased moisture will stimulate the growth of the rodent population here.

Can you say "oh boy"?

scratchin' an itch...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), August 02, 1999.

Chris,

Spent the past 9 years working with essential oils and aromatherapy, and creating blends... etc.

Most of the aromatherapy teachers and serious users know about that Black Plague tidbit. I think it's worth noting too, in this day and age.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 03, 1999.

Diane, do you know which eo's are most likely to have been the effective ones? Thanks for the interesting info - I'd heard that many parts of Europe lost 90%+ of their populations (Southern Europe). No wonder it was the dark ages. The amazing thing is that we came out of it so quickly.

-- Tricia the Canuck (tricia_canuck@hotmail.com), August 03, 1999.

Dear Tricia,

"amazing thing was we came out of it so quickly."

In the UK,they said population figures didn't recover until approx.200 years later !Kind of scary.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 04, 1999.