When People died of the Plague, the other people could get increased pay because there would be less people.
Bubonic plague and its later forms spread across Europe very quickly in the fourteenth century and killed a large percentage of the population. The disease returned every few years and killed more people, although fewer and fewer people died from it every time. It was nevertheless still a very serious business during the whole of Shakespeare's life and for some time afterwards. There was a notoriously bad outbreak in 1666, fifty years exactly after Shakespeare's death (which was not due to the plague, although the exact cause is unknown).
Considering Smallpox killed over 300 million (300,000,000) people in the 20th century alone, I think it bests pretty much any other plague in history. So, no, the London Plague is not the biggest plague ever.
1665, one year before the great fire. There had been many smaller outbreaks in previous years. It is called bubonic plague because it affects the Bubo's, an old word for the lymph glands either side of the throat. Spread by the fleas of rat's the great fire did more to cleanse London than anything else.
The "Black Plague" in Europe was bubonic plague. Bubonic plague is present in North America, but has never caused a major disease outbreak. Campgrounds in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California are occasionally closed because of plague, which is carried by rats and fleas. The biggest disease outbreaks in North America were smallpox and influenza.
No really. The streets were filled with sewage from human waste thrown from houses, animal waste mixed with this. There was wide spread poverty. The port of London grew rapidly. By the late 17th century London had a population of more than half a million. Many of the grander houses and wealthy merchants lived in the west of the city, the poor people lived in the east of the of the Thames. During the 17th century towns grew much larger. That was despite outbreaks of plague. Fleas that lived on rats transmitted bubonic plague. If the fleas bit humans they were likely to fall victim to the disease. Unfortunately at the time nobody knew what caused the plague and nobody had any idea how to treat it. Plague broke out in London in 1603, 1636 and in 1665. Each time it killed a significant part of the population but each time London recovered. There were always plenty of poor people in the countryside willing to come and work in the town. Of course, other towns as well as London were also periodically devastated by the plague.
An epidemic happens when an unusually large number of people suffer from the same disease. During the Middle Ages, there were a number of epidemics. Two of the most important were the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, both of which were great epidemics of bubonic plague. There were also other epidemics, including outbreaks of small pox, typhus, cholera, typhoid fever, and leprosy. These epidemics caused great loss of life. The Black Death killed about a third of all the people in Europe during the course of only three to five years, and in some areas, three out of every four people died in the short time it took the plague to go through. Since people did not have any idea how these diseases were spread, most people could do little about them but pray.
Yes, but only as long as the bacteria which spread it survived. The bodies of people who had died of the plague were used in biowarfare during the middle ages. Besieging armies would throw bodies of plague victims over the walls of a city and wait for the plague to soften up their enemy before attacking. Since Yersinia Pestis survives best in the bodies of fleas and flea-infested rats, the main risk during an outbreak is not from dead bodies, but from the original reservoir of infected fleas which may bite other nearby people and animals. Good pest control is critical to preventing and limiting plague outbreaks.
There were two forms of plague, one Bubonic and the other Pneumonic. Pneumonic was not currable.
That depends on the country of the infected, and the superstitions surrounding the plague. Many would simply leave the bodies in the houses, since they were traditionally locked up to stop the plague from spreading. In other areas, more bizarre practices were common, such as sucking on the buboes to release the person's soul and prevent further outbreaks. Other areas had mass burial pits, and some burnt the bodies, though this was mainly in the countryside. Hope this helps! =D
When there were outbreaks of plague in London, places where there were large gatherings of people were suspected of helping spread the plague, and so the theatres were closed. That was the official line, anyway. They didn't close the churches, since it was thought that all those prayers would help the outbreak. Theatres on the other hand were thought to be evil places associated with pickpockets and prostitutes and would be closed on the slightest pretext.
There were several outbreaks of plague in the empire of which the most famous was the Antonin Plague which occurred during Marcus Aurelius. While fighting in the east, Marcus' army picked up the plague and carried is back to the west. The terrible decease had a harrowing effect on the empire. There were lack of harvests, hunger was a common problem, there were to few men in the army which brought to severe barbarian invasions. Other plagues had similar effects.