Don?t blame rats for the Black Death, new book argues

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/a...lame-rats-for-the-black-death-new-book-argues

Don?t blame rats for the Black Death, new book argues
August 18, 2011

The Black Death may not have been spread by rats infected by fleas, nor may it actually have been the bubonic plague, says a British archeologist.

More likely the disease was spread through the air like pneumonia or even SARS, according to Barney Sloane, author of the new book The Black Death in London.

?I think it?s likely aerosol,? said Sloane, speaking of the route of transmission. And that likely rules out the bubonic plague.

Though there is a strain of bubonic plague, known as pneumonic plague, that is spread through an infected person coughing, Sloane doesn?t believe that is the culprit, either.

His suspicion that the Black Death was a mysterious airborne virus is linked to the fact that the pattern of rats and fleas that usually spread the bubonic plague doesn?t match up with what happened in London during the 14th century...

 

[alert]

Re: Don?t blame rats for the Black Death, new book argues

There have been a fair number of studies over the past few years as to whether the Black Death really was bubonic plague or not. Some of the other threads on FluTrackers include:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152470

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3731

And most notably:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=374164

which found Y. pestis DNA in the bones of plague victims.

IMO, also arguing in favor of bubonic/pneumonic plague as the Black Death is the fact that two different presentations (presumably bubonic vs. pneumonic) were reported, something that isn't common with most illnesses. Also, for an explanation other than plague, one would need to explain what happened to the causative agent that it is no longer around today.

The above post seems to argue in favor of an airborne pneumonia, possibly an influenza. Other scientists have argued that the Black Death may have been an Ebola-like viral hemorrhagic fever. We may never know for sure.

 

[Mellie]

Re: Black death was not spread by rat fleas, say researchers

Re: Black death was not spread by rat fleas, say researchers

Interesting article...

Black death was not spread by rat fleas, say researchers

Evidence from skulls in east London shows plague had to have been airborne to spread so quickly

Archaeologists and forensic scientists who have examined 25 skeletons unearthed in the Clerkenwell area of London a year ago believe they have uncovered the truth about the nature of the Black Death that ravaged Britain and Europe in the mid-14th century.

Analysis of the bodies and of wills registered in London at the time has cast doubt on "facts" that every schoolchild... (More at the link)