8. The Deadly Varieties of the Black Death
The most common, tragic, and painful, form of the Black Death was the bubonic plague. However, the pandemic had two other deadly strains: the septicemic and pneumonic plagues. The differences were in the affected body parts. The bubonic plague hit the lymph nodes, the pneumonic targeted the lungs, while the septicemic infected the blood.
The septicemic plague was a blood infection that caused clotting in the veins. Victims suffered from abdominal pains, bleeding under the skin, blood pouring out of all orifices, vomiting of blood, fever, shortness of breath, and gangrene. The pneumonic plague struck the lungs, causing symptoms such as chest pains, shortness of breath, coughs, headaches, and high fevers. It could follow an initial bubonic or septicemic plague infection, killing those lucky enough to have survived one of the other Black Death varieties, only for their luck to run out when they came down with the pneumonic plague. It could also be caught from airborne particles exhaled by infected humans or cats.