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There is not 100% agreement on this point between scholars, but the leading theory is that the black plague was a strain of Y. pestis bacteria, which can cause penumonic, septicemic, and bubonic forms of plague. It is very contagious, and without modern medical treatment kills around two thirds of those who develop an active infection.

Alternate theories of the plague include a strain of anthrax, an unknown hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola, and simultaneous epidemics of several other diseases such as typhus, smallpox, and respiratory infections. None of these theories have gained a widespread following, and Y. pestis remains the leading explanation.

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12y ago
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14y ago

The plague started in China where rats were infected with the plague. Fleas then bit the rats and they too became infected. When trading ships set sail from China they were infested with the rats that carried the infected fleas. When the ships moored in Europe the rats got off the ship and entered the streets of medieval Europe. The fleas jumped off the rats and onto the people of medieval Europe and bit those therefore injecting some of the rats blood into the person. This person then had the plague.

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12y ago

The "Black Death," the nickname for the Bubonic Plague, was directly caused by the bites of fleas on rats or the bites of infected rats of the time. During the time era, cats were considered taboo and were killed. Because a large population of cats were killed, the rat population increased since the cat was the main predator of them. Hygiene was very low at this time period as well. People of this era believed that bathing would make you sick and living in everyday filth would make you stronger against sickness. This filth attracted the rats that carried the Bubonic Plague with them to Europe.

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16y ago

Fleas from rats got onto the people in 1348 and they caught a virus type thing.

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12y ago

Black Asian rats.

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Q: What real causes were there for the black death?
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