What creature spread the bubonic plague during the Black Death pandemic? Answer
The primary creature responsible for the widespread transmission of the bubonic plague during the Black Death pandemic was the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis). These small, blood-sucking insects typically lived on black rats (Rattus rattus), which were prevalent in human settlements and on ships, facilitating their spread across continents. The fleas would become infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis when they fed on infected rats.
Once a flea was infected, the Yersinia pestis bacteria would multiply in its gut, often forming a blockage. This blockage would make the flea increasingly hungry and more likely to bite new hosts, including humans. During these bites, the infected flea would regurgitate the plague bacteria into the bloodstream of the new host, initiating the infection. Thus, while rats served as the main carriers of the bacteria, it was the rat flea that acted as the critical vector, efficiently transmitting the deadly disease to humans and driving the catastrophic mortality of the Black Death.
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