Infectious diseases

Name: Black plague

Year: 1331 – 1353

Dead: about 55 million

By Black Plague is meant the plague pandemic that struck most of the known world of the fourteenth century (Asia, Europe and North Africa). It takes the name “Nera” because of the black skin spots that appeared, therefore it also took the name of “black death”.

The disease initially spread to China in 1331, following the trade routes it arrived in Caffa, Crimea. From there it first reached the Italian ports from which it expanded to reach North Africa and the rest of Europe.

The Italian writer Boccaccio said that the victims “had lunch with their friends and dined with their ancestors in paradise”. In addition, in the years that followed, he wrote the Decameron, set in the plague Florence of 1348.

The infectious disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, still persists. Every year, 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague are reported worldwide, 10-15 of which are in the western United States.

Source: web