The black death was caused by a volcano and not by germs.

CON will now comment on each of pro's notions. 1. Pro asserts that 600 year old DNA evidence is suspect. According to the journal Nature. DNA has a half life of 521 years.(1) Collecting DNA is a delicate procedure, and not all attempts are successful. However the results can be "pass / fail". If DNA is present, then an analysis is possible. If DNA is not found the result is ZERO. Researchers found some DNA in some corpses that were historically identified as plague victims and found flea DNA concurrently present. Thus CON has proved that it is accepted that fleas and plague are linked. ************************** 2. Pro asserts that gangrene would explain Black Death, however, according to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of the two are very different (2). ****************************** 3.Pro states " My opponent has not specified where "bleeding below the skin" took place. Therefore, fingers, toes and nose still applies. Note - Untreated gangrene spreads infection throughout the body soon after if not treated." CON answers that ". These are found in the neck, armpit or groin ..." (3) and these are areas that are not the extremities associated with gangrene. ********************** 4. Pro then posits " Note - Plagues mostly only started to occur when cities became over populated. Could just be a result of over population and pollution of water supply etc." CON counters that in its Bubonic manifestation where lymph nodes are affected ..."The stricken lymph nodes are near the flea bite." (4) *********** 5.Now pro puts forth a dietary cause of gangrene where gangrene was mistaken for the plague. But gangrene has already been negated as a cause since the symptoms are different Also gangrene affects the extremities while the plague occurred in the body core. Gangrene spreads from the "outside in": the plague spreads from "inside out". ******************* 6. Here pro finally argues for non medical causes of the plagues . Pro states ". After all, the so called disease started near the Vatican and spread from there." This is so WRONG . The plague came from Asia. ""The pandemic is thought to have begun in Central Asia, and spread to Europe during the 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 million people, approximately 25"50 million of which occurred in Europe. . . . It may have reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400." (5) Pro then argues tangentially about a" military operation to eliminate the Jews and other unwanted individuals." And later that " The Vatican supported Hitler and antisemitism." These assertions are made by pro without any supporting documents. As these are not even part of the debate issue as put for by pro ( i.e. volcanoes and such ). CON will not comment on these issues. As an ancillary note....outbreaks of the Bubonic plague have occurred in Madagascar as recently as 2017 (6) Therefore CON has refuted each and every claim by pro, via citations and actual logic. I ask voters to consider this issue as warranted. (1) http://www.nature.com.... Collecting DNA (2) https://results.searchlock.com... (3) https://www.livestrong.com... (4) ibid (5) http://www.historyofinformation.com... (6) http://www.who.int...