'A' is for anthrax
In Why Everything We Know About the Black Death Is Wrong, Thoughty2 examines the cause behind the black death, which claimed as many as 200 million lives in Eurasia and North Africa during the fourteenth century. He concludes that the plague was not spread by rats, with rat fleas as vector, but by humans, with human fleas or lice as vector. This is good news for the rehabilitation of rats, obviously.
Disappointingly, he doesn't give any mention to the possibility that the black death may not have been bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis) at all. The Baccillus anthracis theory is even mentioned on a WackyPDya page, albeit not the WackyPDya page.
Admittedly, anthrax may not be a perfect explanation for the black death, but neither is bubonic plague, even with humans as carriers. Unlike bubonic plague, anthrax may be distributed on the wind as spores, and those spores are also pathogenic postmortem. Not to mention the pictorial and written records of the lesions caused by the black death, which go beyond those of bubonic plague.
As with much of medieval history, there are theories, counter-theories, and conjecture; and I doubt that any of it will be fully explained to the satisfaction of all. But Thoughty2 could at least have gone further than the main WackyPDya page for his research
. There's even a hand-dandy link FFS! (rolleyes)
Overall score: B+, must try harder. The + is for getting his name correct at the top of the exam paper.