10/2/14

The Bubonic Plague

The bubonic plague, which killed around 1/5 of the world’s population in the 14th century, is still around today -- but it now claims only a few thousand lives each year. 

How did that number shrink so drastically? 

Sharon N. DeWitte investigates the causes and effects of the black death and explains how knowing this information can help us prepare for any future outbreaks of the disease. 

Watch the following video and then answer the following discussion questions in the comments section below:

1.  Do you think it is important to study diseases that occured in the past?  Why or why not?

2.   Is there anything we can learn from past human diseases that we can't just learn by studying diseases affecting us today?


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, I do think we need to learn about diseases that happened in the past because the disease could come back and if we don’t know what it is the past can repeat itself. Also if you know the causes and the effects of the disease you can probably find a cure over time. D.W