... primarily a zoonotic disease however; humans can be infected if the flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) that has, previously, feasted on infected animals bits them. There are three human types of the disease: bubonic, whereby the flea deposits the bacilli into the lymphatic system and 'buboes' form (enlarged, inflamed and painful swellings in the lymph glands of the groin armpits or neck); septicaemic, whereby bacilli enter the blood stream directly and is again transmitted by the flea bite; and pneumonic, whereby the bacilli enter the lungs causing severe pneumonia as it is spread by droplet spray in coughs and doesn't require intermediary transmission by fleas. It was especially prevalent in the crowded, poorly ventilated buildings during the time and due to the smallest towns being connected by a network of roads (because of the integration of the rural economy into a national market), the movement of goods e.g. wool, rope, etc also ...

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