The plague is defined as a "destructive contagious bacterial disease" (Merriam-Webster). It spread just as fire catches anything dry nearby. The best known was the Black Death which struck Asia and Europe in medieval times. The plague did not discriminate the poor from the rich, children from parents. Many feared there would be no one to bury them while the deadly bacteria claimed victims. Many people have wondered what caused the outbreak. The disease was called the Black Death because of the black spots it formed on the skin and the overwhelming feeling of darkness it brought. A terrible predator was prowling all over Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to fight with. According to the article Plague: The Black Death, the virus “came in three related forms.” The bubonic variant was the most common and left victims with swellings that appeared on the neck, armpits or groin. Pneumonic plague was the most contagious and is a higher stage of the bubonic pandemic. It attacked the respiratory system and spread by breathing the victim's exhaled air; it was an airborne pathogen. One individual had a life expectancy of less than two days. The lung disease was spread through airborne droplets from the lungs when coughed or sneezed (plague: the black death). Another third form of the Black Death manifested itself through the septicemic plague. This epidemic spread through contact with plague-infected bodily matter and primarily threatened the blood system (The Black Death, 1348). The causes of the Black Death were determined only with the 1885 epidemic that began in China. The first leap forward occurred in Hong Kong in 1894 when scientists “isolated the responsible rod-shaped bacillus – Yersinia pestis” (P...... half of the document ...... in the early 1700s thanks to the improving medical knowledge; the age of enlightenment. Works Cited. "Black Death." BBC, 10 March 2011. "Plague Dictionary." Geographic. National Geographic Society, June 9, 2011. "The Black Death, 1348." Web. eyewitnesstohistory.com/pfplague.html"The Black Death, 1348 to 1350." History Learning Site, June 9, 2011 Death: Bubonic Plague". , Nicholas. "Europe's Plagues Come from China, Study Finds." The New York Times Company, October 31, 2011. Web.