There were variety of symptoms exhibited by victims of the plague. One of which was a sudden fever. The body temperature rises above the normal range. The reason the plague is so devastating is that it starts with something as common as a fever and the medical knowledge during this time was still very underdeveloped. Then came more common symptoms to most diseases such as headaches, chills, and general weakness.
The Buboes
After these common symptoms came the big one. The symptom that clearly defined it as the Bubonic plague was the swelling of the lymph nodes with the possibility of it bursting. The fleas containing Yersinia pestis will regurgitate the bacterium into the victim when its own digestive system gets blocked by it. When the human host is infested with the bacterium, the bacterium causes the nearest lymph node to swell up. If the victim is not treated with the appropriate antibiotics, which they weren't in the Dark Ages, the infection would affect the rest of the body. |