ABSTRACT
Pharmacologists devised cures and a vaccine for pestilence, and by the middle of the twentieth century, outbreaks of the plague were under control, and pestilence was practically eradicated from most of the Western world. Scientific studies have recently linked the Black Death to AIDS by noting the similarities in how the HIV virus and the plague bacillus attack. The comparison between the medieval plague and AIDS is not limited to the scientific community. The narrative tradition initiated by Boccaccio to confront the plague laid the foundation for later writers to continue the use of the narration of stories in epidemic contexts. Epidemic illnesses will remain a constant threat for contemporary and future generations. Technology will continue its trajectory forward in the hopes of conquering these epidemics. And the ability to invoke the narrative tradition of Boccaccio will transcend these epidemics through the effort to confront illness through storytelling.
