The Great Plague of 1665-1666

This week I read the book Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. It was a really good book. It is about the plague. It was a sad (of course) but very well written and had captivating characters. (but I can't necessarily recommend it because it does have a couple of scenes that are a big racy. 10 years ago I mentioned a book that I liked to a "friend" who then checked it out from the library to read. After reading about 1/3 of the book he had to put the book away was too dirty. I have since learned not to recommend or even mention books without a disclaimer. So, here's your disclaimer. It was pretty clean but had a couple of little incidents.) It is historical fiction, based on the true story of a small town out of London, Eyam, that decided to quarantine themselves after the plague hit their small village. 75%of the people in the village died. I didn't know very much about the plague (besides there was a plague and fleas on rats transmitted the disease). So, I've read a little about the plague this week as well. During this time period infection was a huge killer because there were no antibiotics and also people didn't properly understand how disease is spread as we do now. Now, about the plague in particular.

The plague is a bacterial disease which was carried to humans, as mentioned above, by the fleas of rats. It started in the spring of 1665 and then worsened as it got hot in the summer and spread faster, with death tolls in the 1-2,000 per week in early summer and by September 6,000 people died per week. At one point it was thought that dogs and cats were spreading the disease so a lot of dogs and cats were killed. This worsened the situation as it left the rats with less predators. Many citizens, especially well to do ones including doctors fled London to try and escape the terrible disease. One thing I was amazed at in the story which I hadn't considered before is how fast the disease killed people. It was often just one day, or a few days from the onset of the illness to death. The plague was characterized by high fever and ring like marks as well as terrible sores in the groin or neck or armpit area which were extremely painful. There are three types of plague -- bubonic- which enters the lymph, septic - which goes directly to the blood stream and Pneumonic - which attacks the lungs first. The first two are caused by flea bites and the third occurs when it is transmitted person to person.

Unlike some of the other terrible diseases such as small pox which have been eliminated by vaccines, there are still cases of the plague today and even some death but thanks to antibiotics it is treatable. (approximately 1700 cases worldwide and 100 deaths/year according to one website). Most cases are in Asia and the western US.

It is widely believed that the Great Plague's memory lives on in the nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-ring o' roses': the 'roses' refer to the red spots that appear over the buboes, and 'A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down!' recalls the violent coughing and swift death that accompanies pneumonic plague.

This London plague was thought to be the same disease which in the 14th century attacked Europe, killing almost 1/2 of the population, and was called "Black Death." The London plague of 1665 was called the Great Plague. Maybe because it was the last of many such plagues during this time.

Hopefully this made a little sense. I have been trying to write it for days but have a hard time getting it all out in a sensible manner.

Now I need a new book. Feel free to suggest something. Maybe something a little more upbeat. I always worry about things going wrong when I'm about to have a baby. Reading this book with children, mothers, and everyone dying was almost too sad at the beginning of the book but the story ended up picking up and was more about the poeple of the village than the death of most of them.