Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/ar...ew-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...
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...
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