What Spread The Black Death? | QI

This clip is from QI Series P, Episode 2, 'Peril' with Sandi Toksvig, Alan Davies, Aisling Bea, Lee Mack and Jason Manford.

[julianaylor]

Interesting point when they were constructing the Victoria Line, they came across a basalt column from an extinct prehistoric volcano. They couldn't drill through it, so they constructed a wide curved section around it. So sometimes the curves are down to geological features.

[billyeveryteen]

Jason casually throwing out rats swimming into the toilet and biting you on the bum. That is genuinely my single greatest fear in life.

[CaptHayfever]

"Why didn't Alan get buzzed?"
"Because he was right."
"...Oh."

[Zelnyair]

Plague has three forms. You have bubonic that's the most well known and common, but you also have septicaemic plague and pneumonic plague.

Pneumonic plague spreads between people, without needing infected flea bites, and will need urgent medical treatment in order to survive it. It's not a case of purely the infected flea bites spreading it. Mostly, but not entirely.

[safebox]

I remember a previous episode of QI said it was fleas after Alan said rats.

[lhfirex]

A giant butter knife dipped into a petri dish.

[kevbrown]

Bubonic plague most likely developed into pneumonic plague making it more easily transferable between humans. This development would make it an airborne virus in the same way as covid 19 was.
Bubonic plague still exists in parts of the world but rarely spreads in the numbers it did during the medieval period.

[PimpMacSlickBac]

This show is responsible for almost everything I claim is true and certainly everything I correct people on. Nobody believes me and I'm always the ass.

[Leornianæfre]

I remember in the D series in 2006, I seem to recall the elves said the original source was from Marmots.

[sethc]

Not a flea, but...
A young mosquito came back after his first time flying
His mum asked him "How was your first flight?"
He replied: "It was great, everyone I flew past was clapping for me"

[NewMessage]

And that's why the clergy wear flea collars to this very day.

[billyeveryteen]

To me, the strangest and most fascinating about the Plague is that it's still around. It never actually went anywhere. Unlike things like smallpox and polio, there's no vaccine and the disease was never eradicated, we just sort of got lucky and stopped catching it. People still get the Plague in this day and age.

[Enjay]

At least we learned and implemented the lessons about human to human transmissions in time for more recent events. 😉
It turns out that "avoiding something like the plague" isn't quite such an obvious thing to do as we thought. 😂😕

[riluna]

Wasn't rats, but an owl. If you know, you know.

[missileman]

Well it was a bacteria really... Yersinia pestis.

[twocvbloke]

Notice how Jason seems to get itchy when fleas are mentioned, and now you too are feeling itchy at the thought of being itchy from fleas... :P

[shoredude]

And here I thought the plague came from bats in Wuhan.

[JJONNYREPP]

What Spread The Black Death? | QI 10.11.24 1728pm gossip!!!!

[chrismac]

I had an argument with a environmental health officer recently about this. They are adamant it was the rats. Fun fact. Black rats population has reduced so much, we hardly ever see them.