- Hello Jeff - I tend to believe that the Black Death
of Medieval Europe which came out of the east, Asia, may, indeed, have
been a form of Avian Flu. I believe it may be similar to that flu which
we call the Spanish Flu.
-
- At the time of the "Plague" Europe was suffering
from the "Little Ice Age" and many people were starving and their
immune systems not functioning. The Black Death might certainly have taken
the spice route and other trade routes from China, India and other parts
of Asia through Europe and into England.
-
- It is certainly possible that the cause of the black
death could have been viral.
-
- I found this article interesting. Many in science will
dispute the theory but, as we face our own future pandemic, it is a subject
worth discussing.
-
- Patty
-
- http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/190150/
- Fleas_May_Not_Have_Caused_the_Black_Death
-
-
- Fleas May Not Have Caused The Black Death
- Jun 1, 2007 in Science
-
- "For centuries, rats and fleas have been fingered
as the culprits responsible for the Black Death, the medieval plague that
killed as many as two thirds of Europe's population." But the disease
may have had another cause.
-
- "Experts now believe that the Black Death is more
likely to have been a viral infection, similar to haemorrhagic fever or
ebola, that spread from person to person."
-
- A recently discovered archive of Dorset court records
from the 14th century showed that about 50% of the people living in the
area died of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, in the winter of 1348.
Because rat fleas are dormant during cold weather, it's unlikely that they
could have spread the disease.
-
- Whatever the cause is finally determined to be, the bubonic
plague decimated Europe and may even have contributed to climate change.
So many people died that farms were abandoned and left to return to forest.
From about 1500, almost to the 19th century, Europe experienced a Little
Ice Age, suffering unusually cold winters. England's Thames River froze
over, affecting the transportation of goods, and hundreds of thousands
of people died during the severe winters.
-
- Dr Thomas van Hoof and a team of researchers from Utrecht
University, Netherlands, used pollen grains and leaf remains to determine
the ups and downs of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over several centuries.
Van Hoof believes that a sharp decrease in carbon dioxide occurred after
1350, caused by the reforestation of large tracts of land across Europe,
and that this led to a cooling of the climate. The theory is still being
debated, and some people aren't convinced. "Dr Tim Lenton, an environmental
scientist from the University of East Anglia, UK, said: "It is a nice
study and the carbon dioxide changes could certainly be a contributory
factor, but I think they are too modest to explain all the climate change
seen." "
-
- Europe's chill linked to disease
-
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4755328.stm
-
-
- Europe's chill linked to disease
- By Kate Ravilious
-
- Europe's "Little Ice Age" may have been triggered
by the 14th Century Black Death plague, according to a new study.
-
- Pollen and leaf data support the idea that millions of
trees sprang up on abandoned farmland, soaking up carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere.
-
- This would have had the effect of cooling the climate,
a team from Utrecht University, Netherlands, says.
-
- The Little Ice Age was a period of some 300 years when
Europe experienced a dip in average temperatures.
-
- Dr Thomas van Hoof and his colleagues studied pollen
grains and leaf remains collected from lake-bed sediments in the southeast
Netherlands.
-
- Monitoring the ups and downs in abundance of cereal pollen
(like buckwheat) and tree pollen (like birch and oak) enabled them to estimate
changes in land-use between AD 1000 and 1500.
-
- Pore clues
-
- The team found an increase in cereal pollen from 1200
onwards (reflecting agricultural expansion), followed by a sudden dive
around 1347, linked to the agricultural crisis caused by the arrival of
the Black Death, most probably a bacterial disease spread by rat fleas.
-
- This bubonic plague is said to have wiped out over a
third of Europe's population.
-
- Counting stomata (pores) on ancient oak leaves provided
van Hoof's team with a measure of the fluctuations in atmospheric carbon
dioxide for the same period.
-
- This is because leaves absorb carbon dioxide through
their stomata, and their density varies as carbon dioxide goes up and down.
-
- "Between AD 1200 to 1300, we see a decrease in stomata
and a sharp rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, due to deforestation we
think," says Dr van Hoof, whose findings are published in the journal
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
-
- But after AD 1350, the team found the pattern reversed,
suggesting that atmospheric carbon dioxide fell, perhaps due to reforestation
following the plague.
-
- The researchers think that this drop in carbon dioxide
levels could help to explain a cooling in the climate over the following
centuries.
-
- Ocean damper
-
- From around 1500, Europe appears to have been gripped
by a chill lasting some 300 years.
-
- There are many theories as to what caused these bitter
years, but popular ideas include a decrease in solar activity, an increase
in volcanic activity or a change in ocean circulation.
-
- The new data adds weight to the theory that the Black
Death could have played a pivotal role.
-
- Not everyone is convinced, however. Dr Tim Lenton, an
environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, UK, said: "It
is a nice study and the carbon dioxide changes could certainly be a contributory
factor, but I think they are too modest to explain all the climate change
seen."
-
- And Professor Richard Houghton, a climate expert from
Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, US, believes that the oceans
would have compensated for the change.
-
- "The atmosphere is in equilibrium with the ocean
and this tends to dampen or offset small changes in terrestrial carbon
uptake," he explained.
-
- Nonetheless, the new findings are likely to cause a stir.
-
- "It appears that the human impact on the environment
started much earlier than the industrial revolution," said Dr van
Hoof.
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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