[SunkenCiv]

Experts now believe that the Black Death is more likely to have been a viral infection, similar to haemorrhagic fever or ebola, that spread from person to person.

Thanks Lurker.

Pneumonic plague occurs when Y. pestis infects the lungs. This type of plague can spread from person to person through the air. Transmission can take place if someone breathes in aerosolized bacteria, which could happen in a bioterrorist attack. Pneumonic plague is also spread by breathing in Y. pestis suspended in respiratory droplets from a person (or animal) with pneumonic plague. Becoming infected in this way usually requires direct and close contact with the ill person or animal. Pneumonic plague may also occur if a person with bubonic or septicemic plague is untreated and the bacteria spread to the lungs. -- CDC: Facts about Pneumonic Plague

[blam]

I did a DNA search on my son's mtDNA, which is 'H', and the most wide spread in Europe. I came across an article in the Lancet about survival advantages in Haplogroup 'H' people. Persons from haplogroup 'H' are twice as likely to survive infections such as MRSA and pneumonia and a very high survival rate for sepsis when compared to other haplogroups.

No doubt, this reflects something from our past and may explain why mtDNA haplogroup 'H' is the most wide spread in Europe today...they're the survivors, huh?