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breckenridgeback t1_jads7nq wrote

Reply to comment by VonUndZuFriedenfeldt in [eli5] Black plaque was not exactly cured, how did it just disappear from Europe in 1353? by Linzold

As for why the full intensity didn't reoccur: the Black Death killed a third of the people in Europe (for comparison, that's about 100x the death rate of covid in the US), and infected most of the rest. By killing off the most vulnerable parts of the population, it made Europeans particularly resistant to plague, so future plague epidemics were less bad. It's similar to how modern Native American populations are no longer ravaged by diseases that, when their ancestors were first exposed to them, wiped out as much as 90% of the population.

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VonUndZuFriedenfeldt t1_jaeeuz2 wrote

that would be a stretch to say that Europeans in general got more resistance. The mutation offering more protection or even immunity did significanly spread in the gene pool, that is true. However, that would fail to explain why the outbreak in London (to give an example) in 1666 claimed so many dead.

If I recall correctly it is estimated that about 90% of the native american population died because of unknown diseases. However, some of those became endemic later on. Plague didn't (nor did that other scourge: smallpox). Plague is therefore one of those diseases that IF found by a doctor, must be reported to the national health authorities almost immediatly (as: within 24 hours) in my country.

The 1348 outbreak coincided with a period of bad harvests and relative overpopulation. Resulting in lower resistance among the populace. It was, in the words suitable for a five year old: a double whammy

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