pestis bacteria and the Oriental rat flea was the primary vector. The first-known case in England was a seaman who arrived at Weymouth, Dorset, from Gascony in June 1348. By autumn, the plague had reached London, and by summer 1349 it covered the entire country, before dying down by December.
Having spread from India through Asia, North Africa and Europe, plague probably entered England via an infected rat or flea at Melcombe Regis (now called Weymouth) about the end of July or beginning of' August, 1348.
Studying ancient plague genomes, researchers traced the origins of the Black Death to Central Asia, close to Lake Issyk Kul, in what is now Kyrgyzstan. In 1347, plague first entered the Mediterranean via trade ships transporting goods from the territories of the Golden Horde in the Black Sea.
Cause and outbreak. Having originated in China and Inner Asia, the Black Death decimated the army of the Kipchak khan Janibeg while he was besieging the Genoese trading port of Kaffa (now Feodosiya) in Crimea (1347).
Comedian Alan Carr was born in Weymouth. He can be seen regularly on the stand-up circuit, on tour and on TV. In 2001 he won the BBC Best New Stand Up award and in 2008 Carr won Best Entertainment Personality at the British Comedy Awards.
The most common crimes in Weymouth are violence and sexual offences, with 1,960 offences during 2025, giving a crime rate of 35. This is 1.2% lower than 2024's figure of 1,983 offences and a difference of 0.26 from 2024's crime rate of 35.
More recent plague epidemics have occurred in Africa, Asia, and South America, but most human cases since the 1990s have occurred in Africa. Almost all of the cases reported in the last 20 years have occurred among people living in small towns and villages or agricultural areas, rather than in larger towns and cities.
There are three types of plague. Which type you have depends on where in your body Y. pestis ends up. Bubonic plague infects your lymph nodes, septicemic plague is in your blood and pneumonic plague affects your lungs.
Most theories suggest that it was the imposition of quarantine measures that ensured the end of the Black Death. People would remain in their homes and only leave when it was necessary, to avoid becoming infected, while wealthier individuals would leave densely populated areas to live in greater isolation.
Bubonic plague still occurs throughout the world and in the U.S., with cases in Africa, Asia, South America and the western areas of North America. About seven cases of plague happen in the U.S. every year on average. Half of the U.S. cases involve people aged 12 to 45 years.
Plague victims were locked in their houses for 40 days and a red cross was painted on their door. Watchers were employed to make sure people didn't leave. Searchers had the job of entering the home of suspected plague victims to search for bodies, and removing them to be placed in plague burial pits.
It arrived at Genoa and Venice in January 1348, while simultaneously spreading through Asia Minor and into Egypt. The bubonic form was described graphically in Florence in The Decameron and Guy de Chauliac also described the pneumonic form at Avignon. It rapidly spread to France and Spain and, by 1349, was in England.
Without treatment, plague results in the death of 30% to 90% of those infected. Death, if it occurs, is typically within 10 days. With treatment, the risk of death is around 10%. Globally between 2010 and 2015 there were 3,248 documented cases, which resulted in 584 deaths.
Note: A plague vaccine is no longer available in the United States. New plague vaccines are in development but are not expected to be commercially available in the immediate future.
So quite apart from the very high rate of mortality it produced, this plague was terrifying because it was so hard to diagnose and treat – it had no single set of symptoms or medical presentations. Even today, it can be hard to identify and cure.
The Black Death or bubonic plague killed more than 25 million people in fourteenth-century Europe. Yersinia pestis (the plague bacteria) can be easily weaponized as a bioterrorism agent. Early plague treatment is curative, but its symptomatology can be nonspecific. Modern outbreaks still regularly occur.
The first-known case in England was a seaman who arrived at Weymouth, Dorset, from Gascony in June 1348. By autumn, the plague had reached London, and by summer 1349 it covered the entire country, before dying down by December.
Harbor area with picturesque views, historic charm, and a variety of dining options. Enjoy boat rides, crabbing, and evening strolls along clean, vibrant waterfront streets. Pebble beach with stunning Jurassic Coast views, ideal for walking, fishing, and swimming.
Comparing Dorset's larger towns and cities, and using Crime Risk Scores - which are calculated by taking severity of each crime type into account - Weymouth is the most dangerous. The next most dangerous is Poole, and Bournemouth comes in as third most dangerous.
