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Rear-gunner OP t1_j503q5q wrote

Reply to comment by No-Work-2616 in The Black Death may not have been spread by rats after all by Rear-gunner

What is commonly believed is that the fleas stuck to the rats until the rats' population went down, and then the fleas switched to people.

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War_Hymn t1_j51nuo0 wrote

I don't think fleas really care if they jump and feed on a human or rat. Especially given that the bubonic plague stem from wild marmots, not rats, from Mongolia in the first place.

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letsgetawayfromhere t1_j52be4d wrote

Actually they do. Fleas usually specialize in the mammal (or group of closely related mammals) they feed on. They can survive feeding on other mammals instead, but they will lose fertility to the point of becoming completely infertile. So fleas will always try and stick to “their”mammal if they can.

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yoshinosumoto t1_j5164vh wrote

Explains urban centers but back then those are far and few between. Even rural areas got hit hard by the black plague.

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Thuis001 t1_j530qbs wrote

Once your urban center is a plague pit, it can spread from there by humans.

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