No living happily ever after
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"Compelling", a quote attributed to New Scientist says prominently on the cover. And it is. In both senses. In the compelling-evidence sense and in the compelled-to-read-on sense. This is a very accessible and a very gripping marriage of science and history. It's very neatly ordered with each point flowing well from the one before and linking in nicely to the one that follows. There's very little confusing digression and not too much scientific terminology. It's obviously written for the interested lay person, and all the better for it. The only thing that I would draw attention to, and lament quietly, is the lack of illustrations. I would have liked some 'ye olde' woodcuts, medieval art and period maps. Talking of maps, they were VERY basic. Looks like the authors knocked them up themselves one night as an OHP slide! And lastly, but by no means least, THERE IS NO HAPPY ENDING. Towards the end of the book I was reading on and on about all these apocalyptic scenarios and mankind's being at the mercy of a future emergent haemorrhagic virus and I was expecting some good news to arrive at any minute. It never did. Looks like we're living on borrowed time. I'm off to buy some surgical masks now.
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A Good Shake-Up
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The Government's own Health advice web site states that Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, the bacterium transmitted along the infamous rat-flea-human route.
This book proves that, whilst bubonic plague is caused this way, bubonic plague could not have been the agent responsible for the Black Death and many subsequent outbreaks of severe mortality, as it does not follow the correct epidemiology expected for such a vector. Bubonic plague expands at a few miles a year, whereas the Black Death covered an entire continent in two years.
A good book, possibly a bit lacking in scientific detail at times, and certainly plays too much on the modern need to feel that 'it might all happen again tomorrow'. It might, but that shouldn't really take up so much space here.
Certainly worth buying; it inspired me to look into it deeper.
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Great detective work
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The return of the Black Death tries to give an overview of the spread of the the Plague during the middle ages and renaissance and tries to bedunk history with regards to the prevalent theories on the cause of this epidemic. And I must say it does it very well. It's a good history read with a healthy dose of science and rationality sprinkled on top. The writing style is engaging and understandable, even for a layman.
What most struck me is the amount of panic a small epidemic, like SARS, can generate in our modern world and how a major epidemic like HIV/AIDS, which kills millions per year, gets, relatively speaking, so little attention.
A recommended read and a real eye-opener.
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Thought provoking
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A real eye opener. To find out the the black plague was not bubonic as commongly thought, but a haemorrhagic plague that killed not only thousands in the Uk, but millions world-wide. This plague returned to decimate entire cities time and time again over a period of 400 years or more, finally seeming to disappear around the early 18th century. Or is it just in hiding?
The book is well written and interesting and does not baffle you too much with science.
Haemorrhagic plague (I am reliably informed by the book!) is a very nasty little disease to catch. Like Ebola, the sufferer literally bleeds to death and his/her insides rot away, turning to liquid. The symptons of haemorrahgic plague are very similar to that of bubonic plague with the black `spots' or bubis being the blood showing under the skin. The final horrible, visible stages of the disease through to death are very painful and the sufferer experiences flu like symptons, vomiting blood, and diarrhea and finally falls into a coma. According to the book some sufferers were in so much pain that it drove them mad and they would throw themselves into the street screaming or even out of windows in a bid to escape the pain. These final symptons take place over a few days (from 5 to 12) and at present there is no known cure.
The authors set out to prove that the black death was caused by hemorrhagic plague, by showing the following differences: that the incubation and infectious period was a lot longer in heamorrhagic plague (approx 32 days) whereas the incubation period was a lot shorter in bubonic plague only 2 to 6 days. Therefore haemorrahagic plague was able to spread a lot wider as the killer symptoms only appeared in the final days of the disease and before that, the sufferer to all intents and purposes, seemed completely healthy. Bubonic plague is typically spread by rats and in accurate reports of bubonic plague, the biggest casualty is the rats themselves, no large number of dead rats were reported in the cases of the black death. Finally the black death spread over a large area very quickly, this would not have been possible if it had been spread by rats due to the short incubation period. It was more likely to have been spread by humans who traveled quickly on horseback and by carriage.
The final chapters look at the possibility of when it will return to Europe and look at what is likely to happen to the infrastructure when it does hit in large numbers. The authors believe that when it does reoccur, the only way to stop the spread is by quarantining large numbers of people, as there is no cure. These people are likely to die, but at least it will contain the disease. A nice thought to leave you with!!!
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Extremely interesting and viable theory
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Think you 'know' about the fourteenth century plague ? It was ALL caused by the bubonic plague from rats - wasn't it ? In this book they lay out an alternative theory and back it up with epidemiological studies that use the historical accounts to support their theory about the main death toll being due to an alternative problem. It appears to be appropriately referenced and well researched and will be of interest to anyone with a lively interest in this great mortality within Europe (from 30-50% of the entire population living at the time).
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