From: jg@cl.cam.ac.uk (Jim Grundy)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Black Death?? Lake Tahoe??
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:01:58 GMT
Reply-To: jg@cl.cam.ac.uk
Organization: Cambridge Hardware Verification Group

In article <MARY.92Jul29094217@martinique.Cayman.COM>, mary@Cayman.COM
(Mary Malmros) writes:
|> 
|> In article <1992Jul28.232024.3906@ichips.intel.com>
jreece@sousa.intel.com (John Reece) writes:
|> 
|>    In article <1992Jul28.214052.125541@cs.cmu.edu>,
jennie+@cs.cmu.edu (Jennifer Kay) writes:
|>    > OK, I know this is a bit strange, but anyway. Some friends of mine
|>    > from abroad are coming to visit the US soon. One of them has heard
|>    > that there has been an outbreak of the "Black Death" at Lake Tahoe.
|>    > Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone know if there is any
|>    > reason to be worried about visiting Yosemite?

|> What you're talking about is probably bubonic plague.  From what I've
|> heard, it's endemic in the Southwest.  The vector is fleas, typically
|> found on rodents.  Bubonic plague can make you real sick, but it's
|> certainly treatable, and I don't believe the fatality rate is very 
|> high unless you don't get treatment.
|> 
|> The "Black Death" was something altogether different.  To this day,
|> nobody knows exactly what the disease known as the Black Death was.  
|> It may have been a plague variant, or perhaps a pandemic flu, such 
|> as the Spanish Influenza, caused by a virus that was sufficiently
|> different from other strains that people had little resistence to
|> it.  It was almost certainly NOT bubonic plague.  Outbreaks of 
|> bubonic plague did exist in Europe at the time, and did kill people
|> (certainly more than they would today, given that they didn't
|> know how to prevent it or treat it properly), but they were 
|> nothing like the Black Death, which had a much MUCH higher rate
|> of infection and mortality.  I believe the Black Death killed
|> something like 1/4 the population of Europe at the time.

I know bugger all about this, but I was half watching a TV program
the other day about the re-emergance of some `old' diseases a la TB etc.
They also noted bubonic plague somewhere in north america that was being 
carried by fees on squirrels.   I had previously formed an association
between the terms `bubonic plague' and `the black death' and that
was reinforced by the program, I can't remember if they said they were
they same thing explicitly.

They did however examine the case (complete with gruesome photos) of some
guy who had the misfortune of curling up for a nap in the sun somewhere near
a dead squirrel whoes fleas were busy abandoning squirrel.
He survived, but not without losing all his fingers and toes.
(insert gruesome photos).
The thurst of the explanation was that the disease was now treatable, but
it helped to catch it early.
Left untreated the disease goes soemthing like this:
   REPEAT
      Extremity turns black.
      Extremity drops off.
   UNTIL something vital drops off.
`Black Death' seems like an apropiate name for this.

Jim

===============================================================================
Jim Grundy               
University of Cambridge | Phone: +44 223 334760            | This space has
Computer Laboratory     | Fax:   +44 223 334678            | been intentionally
New Museums Site        | Telex: CAMSPLG 81240             | left blank for
Pembroke Street         | email: jg@cl.cam.ac.uk           | formatting
Cambridge  CB2 3QG      | talk:  jg@razorbill.cl.cam.ac.uk | purposes.
UNITED KINGDOM          |                                  |
===============================================================================