Charnel Coleman
Professor Doll
Humanities
27 June 2013
Comparison between AIDS and the Plague
The plague is a deadly infectious disease that came from fleas on small rodents. The plague killed about a third of Europe in the late 1700's. Many people abandoned their friends and family, fled cities, and also shut themselves off from the world. Some felt that the wrath of God was descending upon man, so they fought the plague with prayer. Faith in religion decreased after the plague, because of the death of the clergy and because of the failure of prayer to prevent sickness and death. AIDS is a serious disease caused by a virus that lowers the body's natural protection against infection of other diseases, it is known as one of the most dangerous epidemic diseases in the 20th century. AIDS was transmitted to humans through infected blood when they hunted certain animals for food.
The plague had a large economic impact. Because it was so difficult and dangerous to procure goods through trade and to produce them, the prices of both goods produced locally and those imported skyrocketed. Because of the illness and death workers became very scarce, even peasants felt the impact of the new rise in wages. The demand for people to work the land was so high that it threatened the manorial holdings. In Africa AIDS had a huge impact on the economy. Since most adults had AIDS, and they mostly make up the workforce, they lost a lot of workers, and farmers. Africa is already pretty weak economically due to war, lack of education and famine. With hardly any workforce, you end up with a society that has no means to support itself. They need money to provide health care to the millions of people who are sick...