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Yes. One of the peculiar characteristics of the Black Plague is that it blocked the digestive system of the infected flea. As a result, the fleas starved. The starving fleas were far more likely to bite than healthy fleas.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoContrary to popular belief, rats did not directly start the spread of the Bubonic Plague. It is mainly a disease in the fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) that infested the rats, making the rats themselves the first victims of the plague. Infection in a human occurs when a person is bitten by a flea that has been infected by biting a rodent that itself has been infected by the bite of a flea carrying the disease. The bacteria multiply inside the flea, sticking together to form a plug that blocks its stomach and causes it to starve. The flea then bites a host and continues to feed, even though it cannot quell its hunger, and consequently the flea vomits blood tainted with the bacteria back into the bite wound. The bubonic plague bacterium then infects a new victim, and the flea eventually dies from starvation. Serious outbreaks of plague are usually started by other disease outbreaks in rodents, or a rise in the rodent population.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe fleas were the actual carriers of the plague. The fleas, preferentially sought out rats, not humans, but would bite humans, of course. The problem was that at that time in history, anywhere there were humans, there were rats. Lots of rats.
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoThe fleas acted as carriers between the rats and humans and between infected and healthy rats.
Rat fleas, unlike human fleas develop a blockage in their digestive system when infected with the plague, this causes them to abandon the host rat and seek food elsewhere. If they jump onto a human and bite them, instead of getting more blood they end up injecting the infected rat blood in their system into the person's bloodstream, directly infecting them with the plague.
This would happen more often if rats died after taking shelter in people's houses. The fleas actually starve to death as they cannot digest anything but continue to try and feed until this happens.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoNo, they were the carriers. The fleas lived. The people died.
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Where did the rats get the black plague from?
they were the ones that carried the fleas that had the germ which caused the black plague
How do you get black plague?
From fleas from infected rats.
How did the fleas die during the black plague?
During Plague fleas were among the main factors to spread it. People with Plague had bloody vomit fever and tumors.
Key words for the black death?
Plague, Yersinia pestis, bubonic plague, black plague, black death, fleas, rats, middle ages.
What disease is spread by rat fleas?
The rats and fleas carried the black death ** Correction... Rat fleas carried the Bubonic Plague. There is still speculation as to whether the black death was actually bubonic plague as there are very many differences between the pandemics. One theory is that the black death was actually Ebola.
What is a sentence for black plague?
The black plague claimed millions of lives.We believe the black plague was caused by the fleas that rats carried, aided by poor sanitation.
What animal carries the plague?
The plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by fleas, which were carried by rats.
What animal transported fleas with bubonic plague?
black rats.
What were the creatures that spread the black death plague?
Fleas on rats
What animal spread the plague?
(The fleas carried on) the Black Rat.
What was it called when fleas carried by rats were killing europeans?
The answer is bubonic plaque
What cause plague?
Fleas traveling on black rats bit people.
