Plague

The most serious of the vector- and rodent-borne disease epidemics in European history were the pandemics of plague that swept through the continent decimating the population. The first recorded epidemic began in Arabia at the time of Justinian, reaching Egypt in AD 542; it then spread through Palestine and Syria to Europe and throughout the Roman Empire to the British Isles and Ireland. The most infamous of the plague pandemics was the ‘Black death’ which ravaged the continent from the middle of the fourteenth century until the end of the sixteenth century. In Great Britain, one-half to two-thirds of the population is believed to have been killed and it is generally believed that 25 million people or as much as a quarter of the European population fell victim to this pandemic. The last outbreak of plague in Europe occurred in Marseilles, France in 1720, probably introduced by a plague-infested ship arriving from Syria. Some 50 000 people died in the city; the disease spread over a great part of Provence but disappeared in 1722 (Pollitzer, 1954).

There has been some controversy as to whether or not the epidemics described above were indeed caused by Yersinia pestis inasmuch as diagnosis of ancient septicaemia or other forms of plague solely on the basis of historical clinical observations is not possible. Furthermore, the lack of suitable infected material prevented direct demonstration of ancient septicaemia; thus, the history of most infections such as plague has remained hypothetical.