ABSTRACT
Europe experienced infectious diseases throughout the centuries. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the bubonic pneumonic plague (known as the Black Death) devastated Medieval Europe. The plague is transmitted “from one rodent to another by flea ectoparasites and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts.”* If left untreated, mortality rates† from plague are extremely high.‡ In the 19th century, turberculosis (TB) spread in Europe killing many until vaccines§ were developed. Both of these diseases resurfaced in the 20th and 21st centuries with devastating consequences. For instance, drug resistant strains of TB have been found: extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).¶ In 2012, the bubonic plague resurfaced in Madagascar killing 60 individuals.** The following year, in 2013, 32 individuals died from a total of 84 suspected plague cases.†† Of those suspected of infection, 60 individuals
* “Global Alert and Response (GAR): Plague,” World Health Organization, https://www. who.int/ csr/ disease/ plague/ en/.
