[Artemisia] A New Discussion - SCA Skills in a Modern Plague

[Laura Stumpp]

What a great can of worms to open, Allen! I got to do a nice little research
project on the plague when I was in school, so here's a few things to think
about...
1) The plague is NOT gone! It's a bacteria that travels around and
germinates in the gut of a flea. The flea starts to starve because all the
food it eats gets used by the bacteria and the flea isn't getting anything.
This causes the flea to jump around to victim after victim biting them while
trying to feed and spreading the bacteria as it goes. A full blown case of
plague can be caused by just 50 cells of the bacteria!
2) There are actually 3 different types of the plague. 2 of them are pretty
similar in how they respond to the current antibiotics: gentamycin and
streptomycin. These two antibiotics will have about a 75-90% success rate on
two types of plague. The third type, however, is a great big problem! It's
called pneumonic plague and, as the name suggests, it infects the lungs like
pneumonia. It's also a much hardier type of plague because it survives up to
three weeks in the air and soil! Even when diagnosed very early the
antibiotics have only about a 10% success rate in treating this form of
plague. It's an extreme biohazard and any area where it is found must be
quarantined immediately for at least three weeks. That includes livestock.

Questions anyone??

Osondrea

On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Allen Hall <dukealan at q.com> wrote:

>
> Hello All,
>
> It's been entirely too quiet around here.  We can't have that!  OK, so
> here's a new discussion topic I'd to hear your thoughts on.  There are some
> really smart people on this list, and your thoughts, research and opinions
> are interesting to me.
>
> So here we go...
>
> A modern Black Plague has started sweeping through another part of the
> world, but it is destined to arrive here eventually, much like the Plague of
> 1348 in Europe.  Antibiotics don't seem to be effective on this variety of
> the disease.  In the parts of the world that has been effected so far, power
> production, food production and trasnportation of goods has ceased because
> of the local populations fear of the disease.  Government "experts" say that
> it is inevitable that all parts of the US will be affected to one degree or
> another.  So there's your scenario.
>
> The SCA prides itself on skills from the medieval period.  Perhaps because
> of our study of the period, we have more of an inkling of the effects of the
> Black Plague than the average person.  So, what skills do you have, and
> would you teach to others to survive the situation?  What animals (chickens,
> sheep, goats, cattle, horses, etc) would you recommend for use during this
> time of peril?  The whole range of considerations are open for discussion.
>  For example, what medicinal plants would you use, raise, etc?
>
> Your thoughts on social interactions, etc.?
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you!  We know that it can be survived,
> because our medieval ancestors did survive it.  So the lessons from those
> times may be applicable, though obviously, our modern situation is different
> than medieval Europe.
>
> Alan
>
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