The Great Plague – London 1665

THE GREAT PLAGUE

PART 1

How high is the mortality?

30-75%

PART 2

The Black Death has 3 forms, which ones?

·  bubonic

·  pneumonic

·  septicemic

Which bacterium causes the Black Death?

Yersinia pestis

Fill in the 3forms of the Black Death è / Bubonic / Pneumonic / septicemic
How high was the mortality rate in 1665? (in %) / 30-75% / 90-95% / +- 100%

PART 3

When did the Black Death arrive in London?

June 1349

PART 4

Is there a European country which wasn’t affected by the Great Plague?

No

How is the Bubonic Plague spread?

Fleas that are infected with the Bubonic Plague jump from rats to people.


PART 5

What is Boccaccio’s quote?

“The victims ate lunch with their friend and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.”

What does this quote mean?

People were infected and died very quickly. First they have lunch (middageten) with their friends but they were death in the evening. They have dinner (avondeten) in paradise with the other dead people.

PART 6

What happens in 1666?

There is a fire in London called the Great Fire of London.

PART 7

Describe the symptoms of the Bubonic plague, the most common form of the Black Death.

Day 1 / Swellings or buboes appeared on the body.
They are usually the size of an egg but can also be as large as an apple.
Day 2 / The victim vomited and had a fever.
Day 3 / The victim started to bleed under the skin. This caused dark blotches / spots all over the body.
Day 4 / The nervous system was attacked by the disease. This made the victim have spasms (= to move in a strange way, to shudder) and this caused a lot of pain.
Day 5 / The victim suffered a painful death but sometimes he survived, this was the case when the buboes burst and the liquid flows out.


Try to draw the symptoms on the cartoons.

day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5

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