One of the most devastating plagues that have left a mark in the modern times is the Black Death, which plagued Asia and Europe in 1345. This plague was something never seen before by Europeans and Asians. It distressed the entire populations of these continents for approximately twenty five percent of their populations perished. It led to a crisis in faith, and religion suffered its first big blow of uncertainty. People had questions but no answers and they asked themselves why this was occurring. The plagued haunted these populations for about three hundred years.
             Plague is a term that emerged during the middle ages and was used to describe all fatal epidemic diseases, but is now restricted to an acute, infectious, contagious, disease of rodents and humans. In humans, plague occurs in three forms: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague. Bubonic plague is transmitted by the bite of any of numerous insects that are normally parasitic on rodents, and that seek new hosts when the original host dies. The most important of these insects is the rat flea, which is parasitic on the brown rat. Pneumonic plague, so called because the lung is the site of infection, is most often transmitted by droplets sprayed from the lungs and mouth of infected persons; the infection of the blood. Septicemic plague may also be initiated by the direct contact of contaminated hands, food, or objects with the mucous membranes of the nose or throat.
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