How Was The Great Plague Wiped Out And Where There Any Lasting Affects On London?
The ecology of plague is complex. The Great Plague, aka Bubonic Plague/Black Death (bacillus yersinia pestis), may be transmitted by direct contact or a droplet spread from infected to susceptible persons. It is typically a zoonosis, a disease of rodents, especially rats, transmitted by the rat flea. It spreads from rats to humans in rat-infested dwellings. The waning of the pandemic was due to several factors: Extermination of susceptibles, displacement of black rats by brown; and ecosystem changes (the use of brick and stone reduced indoor nesting sites for rats). Other events were required to stop the spread of the disease such as the Great Fire of London in 1666. In some towns and villages in England there are still the old market crosses which have a depression at the foot of the stone cross. This depression was filled with vinegar during times of Black Death as it was believed that vinegar would kill any germs on the coins and so contain the disease. Some are still used to this d
