Quote Originally Posted by Kraxis
The first movement was supposed to come from the Black Sea and all the way to Italy. After that it 'slowly' moved over land. Seems odd doesn't it?Besides as far as I know there wasn't any real quarantine during the first outbreak in catholic countries. This includes England. Qurantines only came later after bitter experiences.

Besides my point was that animal fleas can't drink human blood. They die from it. Ever been bitten by them? I have, and they die after the first bite on humans. So so it could only have been: rat ---> human. Not the other way round.
Sorry, I was busy on Sunday and couldn't post earlier.
I didn't say that fleas are the only reason for the lethal effect of the plague - they're just one of the factors. But they cannot be ignored.
It's really odd. However you didn't mention any other reason(people and rats were all together if we eliminate the rats as transmitters on the ships then we have to eliminate the humans either).
Not all of the fleas die when they drink human blood. I've had some unpleasant ' adventures' with that nasty creatures and most often than not they bite me again and force me to hunt them because I don't want to care about their children. Maybe the fleas in Bulgaria and in Denmark are different .
And don't ignore the fact that the rats were EVERYWHERE and that the medieval infrastructure esp. land routes was awful.