TITLE: A Plane Ride Away: The Threat of Modern Plague
I. Introduction
a. Brief History
i. Eyewitness Quote from Boccaccia
ii. Devastation of 14th Century Europe
b. No longer dormant
c. Thesis: Though the Black plague was prevalent in history past, it is by no means extinct. The bubonic plague is still a threat to our modern world and has physical, economic and global consequences.
II. Body - Middle Age and Modern consequences
a. Physical characteristics and consequences
i. Middle Ages
1. Physical symptoms
2. Fatality rate – near 100% and untreatable
a. Superstitious remedies
b. Flaggelants
ii. Modern
1. Treatable, but if untreated, still fatal
2. But new strains are resistance to antibodies.
b. Economic consequences
i. Middle Ages
1. Too many sick to bury the dead
2. Too many sick to work the fields
3. Peasants more on equal footing because of the need for laborers.
ii. Modern
1. Biological warfare effects on economy
2. Global – spread along trade routes if it reaches the pneumonic (airborne) form
c. Global Consequences
i. Middle ages
1. Spread to the known world along trade routes
2. Art of the Renaissance reflected the impact of the Plague.
3. As a result of later epidemics, the need for a World Health Organization was developed.
ii. Modern
1. Top four countries: Madagascar, Tanzania, Vietnam and Peru.
2. The dilemma – kill the rats, and the fleas will find new hosts.
3. It can be spread along travel (vacation or trade) routes much more quickly.
III. Conclusion
a. The bubonic plague is still a threat to our world and has physical, economical and global implications.
b. WHO continue to track
c. Caution in international travel.
“It is a wondrous tale that I have to tell: if I were not one of many people who saw it with their own eyes, I would scarcely have dared to believe it, let alone to write it down, even if I had heard it from a completely trustworthy person.” These words, spoken by Italian eyewitness...