Black Plague

Every one of the 25 Black Plague skeletons examined from a London cemetery showed signs of rickets, malnutrition, and physical trauma. 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. Bubonic plague is not purely historical — approximately seven people in the United States contract it every year. The Black Plague is classified as the second pandemic in recorded history, occurring from approximately 1340 through the 1400s. 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. Pandemic mortality is not solely determined by pathogen virulence; host immune status driven by nutritional sufficiency is a critical co-determinant of who dies. 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 conventional explanation attributes the Black Plague to Yersinia pestis bacteria spread via fleas carried by rats. The Hundred Years' War, concurrent wi…