Multiple circumstances within cities, families, and societal organizations contributed to the rapid spread of the plague. Rats, ticks and other rodents or insects are one of the causes of the spread of plague throughout the world and most of Europe. Ticks and fleas became infected with the disease and bit rats and other rodents, causing them to become infected. Ticks and fleas also bite other rodents, livestock, and even those that attach to humans and transmit disease to them. Rats or other rodents would run wherever they were bitten by the tick. Some rodents began to enter shipyards and trains. They live with other rats and begin producing offspring, which creates an even bigger problem. The rodents boarded ships and were transported across the world, along with the now infected materials on board. Rats dumped their droppings around the ship and even on the drinking water and food. When ships docked in shipyards around the world, the rats would come down and run through the new country to which they now belonged. Some of the supplies that were offloaded from the ship included, but were not limited to, liquids, food, and livestock. These supplies were shipped around the world and contributed greatly to the spread of the disease. The Church also contributed to the spread of the plague. The priests of the Catholic Church went from house to house to visit the sick. The priest visited the sick to anoint them before their death. This was a Catholic belief and still is today. This is called the anointing of the sick, it is a sacrament in the Catholic faith. This caused the disease to spread rapidly because the priest was visiting a sick person and became infected. He would then... middle of paper......to prevent disease. Some people fled to the countryside and quarantined themselves. In the churches they took measures that would never have been seen if the plague had not occurred. In one case, one of the priests was distributing mass at the end of a pole. Pope Clement sat down between two large fires to breathe clean air. Works Cited Betcher, G. "Town Life". City life. Internet. November 22, 2013. “The Black Death, 1348.” The Black Death, 1348. Trans. Richard Aldington. Internet. November 18, 2013.K., Alchin L. “Health in the Middle Ages”. Health in the Middle Ages. Internet. November 25, 2013.K., Alchin L. “Hygiene of the Middle Ages”. Medieval hygiene. Internet. November 21, 2013. Knox, Ellis L. “The Black Death.” ORB: The online reference work for medieval studies. 1999. Internet. November 18, 2013. Trueman, Chris. “Medicine in the Middle Ages”. Medicine in the Middle Ages. Web.08 December. 2013.