|
|
Article: Black Death `was caused by the Ebola virus'
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- July 23, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
HISTORY TEXTBOOKS have got it wrong about the Black Death, which
they say was caused by bubonic plague spread by rats and their fleas.
A new study suggests that it was in fact caused by an Ebola-like
virus transmitted directly from person to person.
If the findings are confirmed it could mean that a modern form of
the Black Death can emerge without requiring the insanitary
conditions of the Middle Ages.
Generations of schoolchildren have been told that the plague
bacteria transmitted by flea bites caused the great pestilences of
medieval Europe which first appeared in the 14th century and killed
at least 25 million people - more than a quarter of the entire
population - over a 300-year ...