Bubonic plague, a terrifying disease that once killed off half the world’s population, is breaking out in Madagascar, defying the best efforts of world health organizations attempting to prevent its spread through East Africa. The key to understanding this dread disease lays in the Bible, which describes its Egyptian origins – and its terrifying role in the end-of-days. The number of deaths in Madagascar has almost doubled in the past week, with 124 dead and over 1,200 infections diagnosed. The majority of cases, 67 percent, were the pneumonic form of the disease, which is airborne and highly contagious,
spread via coughing or sneezing. Though international health officials insist the risk of the disease spreading to other regions is low, they have set up operations to prepare for such an occurrence in the nine East African nations adjacent to Madagascar. The strong reaction to the recent outbreak is understandable. Bubonic plague in the 14th century, also known as the Black Death, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and in Europe. If untreated, the disease has a 100 percent mortality rate, and the pneumonic form can be fatal within 12-24 hours. CONTINUE
