Black Plague

How it works

Background

Evidence quality

Highlighted claims

• Every one of the 25 Black Plague skeletons examined from a London cemetery showed signs of rickets, malnutrition, and physical trauma. — The Black Plague, Vitamin D Deficiency, and Pandemic Vulnerability
• The Black Plague is classified as the second pandemic in recorded history, occurring from approximately 1340 through the 1400s. — The Black Plague, Vitamin D Deficiency, and Pandemic Vulnerability
• Bubonic plague is not purely historical — approximately seven people in the United States contract it every year. — The Black Plague, Vitamin D Deficiency, and Pandemic Vulnerability
• Pandemic mortality is not solely determined by pathogen virulence; host immune status driven by nutritional sufficiency is a critical co-determinant of who dies. — Black Plague Pandemic New Discovery
• The Black Plague struck around 1348 and killed an estimated 70 to 200 million people, making it one of the deadliest events in human history. — Black Plague Pandemic New Discovery
• Skeletal remains from a London mass grave showed Black Plague victims had rickets, poor dental condition, and anemia — all markers of severe vitamin D and nutritional deficiency. — Black Plague Pandemic New Discovery
• The conventional explanation attributes the Black Plague to Yersinia pestis bacteria spread via fleas carried by rats. — The Black Plague, Vitamin D Deficiency, and Pandemic Vulnerability
• California brown shrimp deprived of vitamin C develop black necrotic lesions, bacterial overgrowth, and septicemia within six weeks, mirroring the Black Plague's tissue presentation. — The Black Plague, Vitamin D Deficiency, and Pandemic Vulnerability
• The Hundred Years' War, concurrent with the Black Plague, disrupted food production and caused widespread malnutrition that severely weakened the population's immune defenses before the plague arrived. — Black Plague Pandemic New Discovery
• The presence of rickets in a meaningful proportion of London skeletons implies that the broader adult population was also severely vitamin D deficient, even if less visibly so. — Black Plague Pandemic New Discovery