The Bubonic Plague

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Rats
Most people dislike fleas. Most people dislike rats. But you could not imagine the horror they caused in 1347-1350, the horrible disaster that wiped out one third of the population of Europe. This disaster is a disease called the Bubonic plague. Most people would soon give up their lives for the moon of cold darkness, which is what people would come to consider the symbol of all horrors. The plague caused many disasters in Europe. The Jewish were blamed, and they were burned. People died, and doctors did not know what to do. Afterwards, people attacked. Who would live in this place during this historically scarring pandemic? Many people. They just couldn't leave. Where would they go? What would they do? Who would help them? The answers are nowhere, nothing, no one. This is the disaster that would change the people of Europe, be a huge topic for story tellers, scientists, and, unfortunately, even for the children.

Fleas on Rats

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Fleas
You would think that fleas and rats are just little things in the world that don't matter at all. Well, if you think that now, don't you think that people in history thought that way about these animals up until the Bubonic plague? They probably did. The people didn't just think about one or the other though, they were a team. You would not just get the plague from a regular rat, or a regular flea. You would get it from fleas on rats. The fleas would become parasites on the rats after they had drunk the infected blood. The flea would then bite a human, and get the human infected. Unfortunately, most rats are, and were, immune to the plague, so eventually the rat population grew, and the human population depleted. Great for the rats, not so great for the rest of us.