They Call Them Epidemics, I Call Them Competitors

Virus.

Any form of simple submicroscopic parasites of plants, animals, and bacteria that often causes disease and that consists essentially of a core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat. Last year, in 2014, the Ebola epidemic emerged scaring people whom were getting affected and others who simply didn’t want it to ever clash with them. The Ebola epidemic started with a…

virus, unsurprisingly. The virus named Ebola is a serious, and acute illness that has a high fatality rate. Does that definition ring a bell? Probably closely similar to the bubonic plague? The bubonic plague and Ebola are both dangerous viruses that impacted all of history greatly. However, the black plague caused more harmful destruction to societies and nations than the Ebola outbreak because the plague was more easily attained, effective, and was extensively traumatizing. The bubonic plague was more easily attained, and was easily more destructive than Ebola.

An evidence of this is revealed in Source B: “Two hogs came and . . . took the rags between their teeth and tossed them to and fro . .

. almost immediately, they gave a few turns, and fell down dead, as if by poison, upon the rags.” the quote shows the extremity of destructiveness the black plague has, by revealing it had the power to kill two hogs very quickly. The author even compares the plague to poison, or a substance that can cause people or animals to die or to become very sick if it gets into their bodies especially by being swallowed. “60% of Ebola victims usually within a week,” stated Patricia Smith in her article “Ebola Outbreak”.

As opposed to the bubonic power whom could kill in a mere few seconds, a week seems like a life-saver. The primarily huge reason for the increased destructivity of the plague that set it apart from Ebola is, thedisease was airborne, causing it to be very contagious, which is briefly talked about in “7 Plagues That Changed History”. Ebola was contagious as well, however it could only be spread by fluid contact (such as blood, saliva, etc.). The black death was extensively traumatizing and many people around the world could testify to that. The plague killed 30 million to 100 million people, which was half of the world’s population at the time, the “7 Plagues That Changed America” revealed.

Unsurprisingly, modern government, societies, and back then, empires, couldn’t handle the regimen of normal life without humans. Losing half of the world’s population was very detrimental, seeing as back then, the world wasn’t growing rapidly as it is currently. That, in a snap of the fingers, “causes lack of militaries, social classes, and the economy” in others words of “7 Plagues That Changed History”. Ebola happened while our planet was expanding in population, so Ebola wouldn’t have caused as much devastation as the black plague. Also, on top of that, most of the world was technologically advanced and had better opportunities of fighting/curing a disease then in the olden days. The symptoms of Ebola are worse than the symptoms of the bubonic plague.

The symptoms include: blood pouring through eyes and nose (not often), intense stomach pain, blisters,bleeding internally. (“Ebola Outbreak”). However, that simply doesn’t make it worse disease than the bubonic plague which causes an extreme discoloration of skin, making someone’s hand decay and look very black, and huge bumps called lymph nodes on personal places such as groins, and armpits. Those symptoms were more worse in the olden days were medicine and technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today. Therefore, every single person who had the bubonic plague had no choice but to endure the symptoms, which wasn’t quite the case for Ebola. In conclusion, the black death was more dangerous than Ebola.

It had the potential to be more destructive towards human and animals–killing them sometimes in just a few seconds. The bubonic plague was more attainable than Ebola seeing as it was airborne; the easier it is to be transmitted, the more deaths. Lastly, the bubonic plague was extensively traumatizing since it washed away almost half of the world’s population at the time. Ebola is no joking matter, but then again neither is the bubonic plague.