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Deadly diseases without a cure have plagued society for centuries. The Black Plague had a devastating effect on European civilization, not only in terms of thousands of casualties but also in economic loss. The Ebola virus is a health threat in modern times; it's the most recent outbreak of an uncontrollable virus, which threatens the health of large populations and the economics of the impacted countries. Infected rodents carrying the virus “Pasteurella pestis” caused the Black Plague. It is an acute infectious disease that is transmitted when the infected rodent comes in contact with human beings. In the early days the Christians believed the plague was caused by God's anger at sinful man. Although the plague was usually brought on from a rat or fleabite. Bubonic plague is named for the large inflammations of the lymph nodes in the neck and groin, which are known as buboes. A high fever, exhaustion, headache, chills generally accompany the onset of plague, and the signature enlarged lymph nodes. These enlargements are very tender, and can be as large as a baseball. One of the other symptoms of the plague is a rosy rash on the skin called Petechiae. During the 14th century this rash was the most often identified sign of "the pestilence" and not the buboes as it is today. In reality, this makes sense, as the skin rash only develops in the most extreme cases. The "rosy" appearance of this rash has caused the children's nursery rhyme "ring around the rosies" to be incorrectly linked with bubonic plague.
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