ew of the plague victims onto his catapults and hurled them into the town (Nelson, 1995, par. 13). Some of the merchants according to Nelson (1995) left Kaffa for Constantinople as soon as the Mongols had departed, and they carried the plague with them (par. 13). It spread from Constantinople along the trade routes, causing tremendous mortality along the way (Nelson, 1995). How the disease was transmitted was further looked on by Nelson (1995). According to the said author, the disease was transmitted primarily by fleas and rats. The stomachs of the fleas were infected with bacteria known Y. Pestis. Nelson held that the bacteria would block the "throat" of infected fleas so that no blood could reach their stomachs, and they grew ravenous since they were starving to death (1995, par. 14). The bacteria would then attempt to suck up blood from their victims, only to disgorge it back into their preys' bloodstreams (Nelson, 1995). Now, however, the victims' blood was mixed with Y. Pestis. Fleas infected rats in this fashion, and the rats spread the disease to other rats and fleas before dying (Nelson, 1995). Without rodent hosts, the fleas then migrated to the bodies of humans and infected them in the same fashion as they had the rats . The disease according to Nelson (1995) appeared in three forms (refer to footnote) . The plague lasted in each area only about a year, but a third of a district's population would die during that period (Nelson, 1995, par. 16). People tried to protect themselves by carrying little bags filled with crushed herbs and flowers over their noses, but to little effect. Those individuals infected with bubonic would suffer from great swelling ("bubos" in the Latin of the times) and take to their beds. However, according to Nelson, those with septicaemic would die quickly, before any obvious symptoms had appeared (1995, par. 16). Also, those with respiratory infection (refer to footnote at previous page) also died ...
