The Justinian Plague: Deadly Bacterial Infection

- The Justinian Plague Abstract Plague is a serious deadly bacterial infection that is also identified as the black plague. A bacteria strain identified as Yernisia Pestis causes the plague. The bacterium inhabits in animals all over the world and is transmitted to human through fleas. Black death has both long-term and short term effects on the human population globally. The effects include a series of political, economic, religious, biological and social upheavals which had significant effects on world history and especially European history. The Black Death has a historical sporadic effect in Europe for a couple of centuries though by 1352 it loosened its grip. Europe population was decimated and the economy was hit hard. In essence, the labor force was destroyed, buildings crumbled and farms were abandoned. The labor price hiked as there was a shortage of workers and the costs of goods rise. The Black Death also set modern medicine technologies stage and spurred changes in the hospital and public health regulation. Due to challenges and frustrations posed by Black Death educators made an initiative to emphasize on physical science and clinical medicines to replace superstition and astrology diagnosis that revolved around the plague The Justinian Plague The Roman Empire had been blooming in the 6th century flourishing more when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian entered the picture and found peace with the Persian Empire. Within his reign, the Byzantine Empire spread through North Africa and the Italian Peninsula. While the military made significant advances in neighboring territories, the worst outbreak of the plague took over the area. Known as the Plague of Justinian it spread over a period of 225 years starting around 541 CE until 750 CE. The plague, although originated from the eastern and western banks of the Nile river, affected Constantinople, spreading north to Alexandria and to Palestine in the east. The plague was one the deadliest outbreaks causing approximately 25 to 50 million people, nearly half of the population of Europe, within two recurrences. The diseases and illness combined with extreme weather conditions and warfare affected the population fatally (Horgan, 2014). According to that period’s geographical events recorder, many parts of the Byzantine Empire was affected by extreme and unusual weather conditions resulting in decreased sunshine, prolonged cold, and well-below-average temperatures. Not only did the weather conditions affected the crops but also caused the migration of people from one area to another spreading the epidemic even more. The Justinian Plague was caused by the Yersinia Pestis bacteria confirmed by DNA tests of skeletal remains from the Early Medieval Cemetery (Harbeck et al., 2013). It has been studied repeatedly across centuries, determining its DNA and mode of action. It is a gram-negative coccobacillus bacteria able to cause three types of epidemics; pneumonic, septicemic and bubonic. The Justinian plague was bubonic in nature whose symptoms start to emerge after seven days of exposure to the bacteria. The symptoms associated with the bubonic nature of the plague are flu-like feeling developing into fever, headaches, vomiting and swollen/painful lymph nodes. According to historians, the plague was spread by a black rat (Rattus rattus) which acted as a carrier for the Yersinia Pestis bacteria. While tributes and trades were being made to and from Constantinople, rats populated the trade ships infecting grain ships and carts. Commodities such as paper, oil, salves, and ivory were transported along with the infected rats to different countries spreading the plague even more. The storage facilities for grain acted as the ideal breeding ground for fleas and rats (Wagner et al., 2014). Those rats, though unable to travel more than 200 miles from their birth site, were still carried to faraway lands by the grain carts. Once the bacteria is transmitted into the human body through dog, rat, and fleabites, this specific virus had a complete mode of action by which it affects the host’s immune system (Li & Yang, 2008). The gram-negative bacteria, also known as the category A agent of bioterrorism, enters the body and encounters polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages at the site of the invasion. While they may mostly be neutrophils, the bacteria attacks macrophages and starts to reside in them. It then destroys the host’s immune system and also influencing the host’s cytokine induction (Du & Wang, 2016; Ke, Cheng & Yang, 2013). The bacteria potentially travel through the blood and ends up in lymph nodes of throat, groin, and underarms. When the bacteria travel to its end sits, victims, start to experience symptoms such as delusions, nightmares, fever, and swellings in armpits, groin region, and behind the ears. The disease was easily diagnosed based upon extreme swelling and tenderness in the lymph nodes. It took 2-6 days for the symptoms to clearly reveal themselves resulting in high fevers, chills, extreme exhaustion and headaches. Another sign was the appearance of gangrene on extremities thus naming it ‘Black Death’. Once the disease progressed, severe symptoms like cough, bloody sputum, confusions, chest pain, shock, seizures, cyanosis appeared eventually leading the individual to death. According to Procopius, some deaths were delayed while some occurred sudden. His writings explained how majority people remained infected while the healthy were usually home mourning the dead. Treatment of the Justinian plague was at that time, primitive and mostly restricted to home remedies. Though the medical system in those times was limited, the Greek physician Galen worked on body fluids calling them humor. Access to medical services and personnel was difficult, so people also stuck to home remedies such as cold-water baths, magic rings/necklaces, blessed powders, herbs, and drugs. The unavailability of effective interventions caused widespread deaths but as the medical field flourished, Y. pestis has been studied and appropriate treatment is assigned. The bacteria is majorly treated with antibiotics. In addition to short-term inactivated vaccines (Dentovskaya, Kopylov, Ivanov, Ageev & Anisimov, 2013), it has been discovered that Y. pestis is highly susceptible to aminoglycosides, gentamicin, tetracyclines, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, and chloramphenicol. Concomitant therapy is also recommended at times to avoid shock from the breakdown of large numbers of gram-negative cells. Besides the discovery of medicines, these particular bacteria require to be diagnosed within 24 hours of infection to avoid death (Yang, 2018). Immediate diagnosis, attention, and interventions such as oxygen supply, intravenous fluids, and respiratory support might be necessary after infliction. Plagues are less controlled by secondary treatments and more constrained by first-hand prevention. Other than primary carriers such as rats or fleas, human to human contact can spread the disease as well. Prevention may include the restriction of pets into the house, filling gaps in walls to refrain rodents from entering the house, using bug repellant sprays, and keeping the environment clean. The bacteria can also be acquired through already infected sputum or cough droplets. In these situations, it is better to use separate bedsheets, towels, dishes, etc. It is highly recommended to get vaccinated. Moreover, wearing face masks, covering the face while coughing, isolating infected patients, having regular checkups, using infection free instruments and ensuring correct treatments are the best ways to control the spread of the plague. It is also essential for the health workers to remain healthy and regularly checked themselves so they might not affect others and also help the patients maximally. On a larger level, areas may be sealed and traveling of infected individuals might be made limited. Additionally, closing public restrooms or maintaining cleanliness shall be prioritized. Provisions for isolating, cremating and burying the deceased can also be made sure. The Justinian Plague of the Roman Empire was a historically lethal event swiping 25 to 50 million off of the planet in the 6th century. Its bacteria acts fast making it highly difficult to be diagnosed and treated at a time. While the symptoms may be quite evident, once infected it becomes difficult for the individual to recover. In such times of plague, prevention and the control of its spread should be the prime concern to ensure the safety of the population. The world has witnessed a major pandemic of plague in history: the plague of Justinian (542 and recurrent waves until the mid-eighth century). The first pandemic recorded was named after the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Scholars have even suggested that the collapse of the Roman Empire may be linked to the spread of plague by Roman soldiers returning home from battle in the Persian Gulf in 165 AD. Several references in literature, art, and monuments demonstrate the devastation of the plague epidemics. Flavius Justinianus ascended the throne of the Roman Empire in Constantinople on April 1, 527. His primary objective was the restoration of the whole Roman Empire under one emperor, one church, one law. It appeared to him that a universal Church and a universal empire were naturally complementary, especially when the head of the state and the head of the Church were one and the same. The result was a blending of civil and ecclesiastical authority, the demonstration of a unique relationship between church and state (Sophocles, 1914). Ecclesiastical legislation had formed part of the Theodosian Code, primarily in title XVI. The character and environment of Theodosius influenced the selection of the ecclesiastical edicts to be preserved in his code (Boyd, 1905). Such weighty problems as episcopal jurisdiction, heresy and apostasy, the immunity of the clergy from taxation, which are treated in the Theodosian Code appear also in the Justinian Code (Krueger, 1954). Thus there existed a definite relationship in the area of ecclesiastical legislation between the Justinian Code and the earlier imperial law. Justinian was obliged, however, to bring order out of the confused ecclesiastical conditions in the empire. Through his legislation, as shown primarily in the first thirteen titles of his Code, he revised and extended the privileges of the clergy and established an even more intimate union of church and state than had previously existed (Sophocles, 1914). There are many significant government laws that relate to the bigger picture of the emergence of new patterns of its globalization, such as the accompanying narratives of warfare and conquest, trade networks and activity, various forms of human mobility, and, most significant, the rise of urban centers. Therefore, to analyze better culturally the outbreak of 1466-76, one needs to look at the emergence of trade networks and urbanization in the previous centuries that paved its way ((Wolff, 1951). In fact, it is essential to understand the development of trade networks in the thirteenth century and the emergence of the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth. This will reveal the picture prior to the rise of the Ottoman Empire, which will make it possible to analyze the changes brought about by the Ottoman Empire (Panzac, 1985). This paragpah will attempt to determine the involvement of th...