Dress code: long cloak and grotesque bird-like mask

     This past month or so in my STEAM class titled 'Disease' we entered a new unit called World.  In this unit we explored how a disease spreads and defined the terms to describe the spread.  In this way we are now able to classify the severity of the disease through words like endemic, epidemic or pandemic.  In addition to all this we learned a lot from epidemics in history such as the black death and the current Covid-19 Pandemic.  we learned read about the spread of these diseases and about the experiences of living under such conditions.  Lastly we watched contagion which was a movie that scarily predicted what the Corona virus would be like.  This movie was interesting because it went over the governmental response to a disease and talked about the R0 and how the infection spreads.  After this we worked on the Action project.  We had to pick a disease to research and write a phony news article about.  Heres how it turned out...

'News Article' ER - 2023

        In the waning light of another typical day in medieval Europe around the mid 1300’s a confused and unwell rat crept along the side of the waste littered streets. He went unnoticed, pests such as these were commonplace. As he maneuvered through the refuse, a mix of badly managed food waste, thick muddy debris and human excrement, he burst forth and entered the bustling marketplace and collapsed never to scamper through the filth again. Unbeknownst to the carefree citizens this overlooked passing was a sign of something more, the Black Death had come to Europe.
        When rodents die from the plague, fleas jump to a new host, biting them and transmitting Y. pestis (The Black Death). Those infected experience symptoms such as high temperature fever (101-105 °F), headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting. The most notable symptom of the black death is the painful lymph node swellings called buboes, which oozed pus and bled. These buboes damaged the skin creating dark blotches and also was responsible for the name ‘bubonic plague’.

        From between 1347 and 1351 Historians and epidemiologists are confident that the Black Death originated in east-central Asia Europe suffered the most. By the end of 1348, Germany, France, England, Italy, and the low countries had all felt the plague. Norway was infected in 1349, and Eastern European countries began to fall victim during the early 1350s. Russia felt the effects later in 1351. It was considered to be one of the worst pandemics in history. Why is it a pandemic? It is a pandemic only because it's an epidemic that's spread over multiple countries or continents. The disease spread quickly through trade routes and boats, and its R0 was estimated to range between 1.5 and 1.9 meaning that on average every sick person would go on to infect 1-2 other people.
        Although the black death seemed to kill indiscriminately it has been determined that like all diseases the black plague was in fact selective in those who were weak to begin with. [5] Another risk factor for the plague was social standing. Seeing that poor waste management and the presence of flea carrying rats so living in poorer conditions where proximity to such things was more prevalent is an important factor.

    In time the number of black plague infections dwindled. People had no real understanding of how to fight the plague other than trying to avoid sick people so an early type of quarantining helped to break up the spread. As to how the plague ended, the best guess is that the majority of people in a pandemic somehow survived, and those who survive have immunity. [2]If the black death were to come back today we could easily stomp out the spread of the disease the same way people did before through quarenting. It is also much easier to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place by maintaining pest control and waste management. Doing these things would make sure the vector that spread the disease are kept at bay.

Afterword:

After completing this AP I can definitely say I was not a fan.  It was cool laying out the story and fabricating the newspaper article, but I didn't like having to write all the facts. It made it feel more like a factual blog than placing the focus on the newspaper aspect.  I did learn a lot about the conditions in which diseases travel which was that hardest part of all my research.  If I was to do this again I would probably want to make the newspaper in real life to make it actually have a point.

Works Cited:

Bubonic Plague (Article) | Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/disease-and-demography/a/disease-and-demograpy.

The Black Death, https://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/plague.htm#:~:text=1348%20Europe%20suffered%20the%20most,the%20effects%20later%20in%201351.

“Symptoms.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Nov. 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/index.html#:~:text=Bubonic%20plague%3A%20The%20incubation%20period,bite%20of%20an%20infected%20flea.

How 5 of History’s Worst Pandemics Finally Ended - History. https://www.history.com/news/pandemics-end-plague-cholera-black-death-smallpox.

Moskowitz, Clara. “Black Death Was Selective.” LiveScience, Purch, 28 Jan. 2008, https://www.livescience.com/9561-black-death-selective.html.