Meningitis is a relatively rare infection that affects the delicate membranes -- called meninges (men-in'-jeez) -- that cover the brain and spinal cord. Bacterial meningitis can be deadly and contagious among people in close contact. Viral meningitis tends to be less severe and most people recover completely without specific therapy. Fungal meningitis is a rare form of meningitis and generally occurs only in people with weakened immune systems.
The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of Central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1343. From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships.
The Black Death moved through Europe astonishingly fast. Take a look at some of the stops on its path. Because Europe was trading with the East, some medieval Europeans were aware of a mysterious disease sweeping through Asia in the 1330s.any think that the Black Death got its name from the blackened tumors that covered the victims' bodies. But it's more likely a mistranslation of the Latin term for the plague, Atra mors. Atra can be translated as either terrible or black.. People living through the Black Death did not call it by that name.