>>I can finally sail to Dublin without being quarantined in case I'm carrying the plague.
>>
>>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31863846
>
>It looks like 350 years was long enough for the epidemic to run its course. By coincidence 1665 is right in the middle of Samuel Pepys' famous Diary, which has been nicely serialized at http://www.pepysdiary.com/ .
>
>These days it's plaque rather than plague (arteries & teeth).
>
>Times have changed...

Those were tough people back then. No vaccinations, populations wiped out in the millions by diseases that are now well understood. AIDS is considered the all time epidemic but check out smallpox. It was a horrible way to die. You died from the inside out.