How It Killed

The plague struck in three forms, all terrifying before antibiotics:

• Bubonic — swellings the size of eggs, called buboes, erupted in the groin, armpits, and neck. Many victims died in 3 to 5 days
• Pneumonic — attacked the lungs and spread through coughing. Untreated, it was almost always fatal, often in 1 to 2 days
• Septicemic — flooded the bloodstream and blackened the skin. Death could come within hours

Doctors blamed bad air, the planets, and God's anger. Their cures — bleeding patients, lancing buboes, burning sweet herbs — did nothing at all.