The Bubonic Plague and the 21st century

Modern day society is one with several benefits, when looked at in comparison to our not so lucky ancestry.

With numerous soap brands, detergents, shampoos and other cleaning agents flooding the market, hygiene is not so much a luxury as a basic mode for living.

A recent outbreak of the deadly bubonic plague in China has caused mass panic over what this means for the rest of the world and whether it will further heighten the loss our current pandemic is bringing us.

The Bubonic Plague, also known as Black Death, was a killer disease present in Medieval England around the 400- 1400 AD. The scale of disaster this disease brought with it is discussed in history books, medical PhDs, museums and all over the world. People are grateful they didn’t have to bear witness to this period of human history.

While actual figures differ, the plague may have led to the death of over 1.3 billion people ( more than half that continent at that time). Medical knowledge was not known or accessible, and the poverty stricken people of the Dark Ages were considered lucky to even have one bucket of clean water. Royal families and monarchs were given baths as luxuries that commoners would never be allowed to have. Needless to say, living conditions were filthy. The concept of hygiene was an alien one and this world would never have been able to sustain itself. The world saw an unravelling due to ignorance of hygiene and the inability to change their situations.

Rodents and Fleas were methods of transport, brought in through huge trading ships, merchants and tourists, until the entire space was a contaminated, active disease site. The bubonic plague has severe implications, with a mortality rate of 99%- 100%. The thought of such a widespread epidemic hitting all over again, is a terrifying thought to us all. Just like people will read about COVID in history books years later, we too wonder about the return of this sickness.

We at SHARP want to remind our audience of how far we have come since the medieval ages in terms of our technology, hygiene practices and medicinal knowledge. Furthermore, we now have several antibiotic treatments ( after years of study) that bring mortality rates down to an incredible 11%. We are so much more self aware as a civilization. This is apparent in our fights for equal healthcare, sanitary awareness, anti pollution campaigns and so much else that must have been mindless thoughts to 15th century Europe.

Stories like that of the Bubonic Plague inspire us at SHARP, because it shows us that hygiene is moving in the right direction. It shouldn’t have to take mass death and so much suffering to see why hygiene is so critical for a well balanced, self- sustained society. Bubonic plague spread from person to person. Infected people sought out healthy people for treatments and cures. Communal places were not shut down, mass graves were dug and toilets were shared. Every individual person facilitated an environment of an unhygienic nature.

And while we have evolved, there is still a lot of evolving to do. We still face unknown bacterial threats, illnesses and sickness that no medicine can protect us from everyday. While so many work tirelessly to combat these, it is also individual responsibility to practice hygienic living. That may be recycling, running a sustainability campaign or anything that promotes a cleaner world. We are fortunate to have the awareness that drives us to do this, because with even a fraction of what we have today, half a continent could’ve been saved.

The black death is not an imminent threat to us today. But the simple concept of hygiene can make the whole world stand still, like we’ve observed for COVID too. All these diseases are thriving off of unhygienic environments and the first step to prevent them from ever impacting future generations is to strip them from this environment we are facilitating. We at SHARP believe that there is no looking back. We are so much better off than Medieval Europe and it will only get better from here.

We are so excited to see what you and the future bring to the wide world of hygiene and how we will grow to create healthier, safer lives. Stay Safe! Maya Ribeiro SHARP