Do Rats Cause Plague?
WouterScientists have long wondered how the plague spread and if rats were involved. They studied the death rates of plague victims in cities in Europe and Russia from the 13th century to the 18th century, and developed a computer model based on these data. The model suggests that the plague spread through rodents and fleas.
Rats and plague have a long history, with a number of references in ancient Hindu texts. The Bhagavata Purana mentions the relationship between plague and rats. In 1615, the Emperor Jehangir noted that rats and plague were linked. Another reference to rat-related plague is the Pali plague of Rajputana in 1836. In 1771, Orreus mentions the connection between rat mortality and the Moscow epidemic.
The plague is a highly contagious disease spread by infected rodents, often infected by other species. During plague epizootics, humans are at higher risk than animals. Epizootics are most common in rural areas with a large number of rodent species.
Rats are the primary reservoir of plague. Infected rats can pass the disease to humans through their feces and blood. The third Black Death pandemic, which began in 1855, is said to have been accompanied by an outbreak of plague caused by a large number of rats. These deaths are known as “rat falls.” However, rat fall outbreaks did not occur during earlier outbreaks.
