How did the conditions in which humans lived in the Middle Ages contributed to spread the bubonic plague?
Bubonic plague was actually caused by rats that carried fleas, who had the disease. Raw sewage, food waste and other garbage was thrown into the streets, which of course attracted vermin. They had to eat too. The fleas then jumped from the vermin to the people and livestock, and they would get flea bites, thus having the disease enter their bodies. Drinking water was contaminated as the rain water washed the sewage into the rivers and streams people drank from, thus spreading the disease quickly, killing almost half of the population of Europe. Bodies were thrown into rivers, still infected adding to the spread. People were locked in their homes if it was thought that they had it, and then spread it to the other members of the household. Bodies were piled up in the streets so collectors could dispose of them, quickly. The bodies were buried, burned and set adrift. It was thought that god was punishing the people for sins committed, that witches had caused it, and mass hysteria set it,
