In Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," the plague known as the "Red Death" is similar to the Bubonic Plague that claimed the lives of many people in the 1300's. Scientists believe that rats orignally carried the disease, which then traveled to fleas. Humans became infected when they came in contact or were bitten by the fleas. The Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacteria known as Yersinia Pestis, and has the following untreatable symptoms: fever, headache, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rapid heart rate, no appetite, delirium, and broken blood vessels. Victims of the plague received black spots, that usually originated on their arms and legs. This is why the Bubonic Plague is also known as the "Black Death." The end result to this plague is death.
Just as deadly as the "Black Death," the symptoms of the "Red Death" are "sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarelet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut hom out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination ofthe disease, were the incidents of a half hour" (Poe). The "Red Death" spread rapidly, claiming the lives of many people in Poe's story. If humans came in contact with either of these two plagues, death was inescapable.
Just as deadly as the "Black Death," the symptoms of the "Red Death" are "sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarelet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut hom out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination ofthe disease, were the incidents of a half hour" (Poe). The "Red Death" spread rapidly, claiming the lives of many people in Poe's story. If humans came in contact with either of these two plagues, death was inescapable.