Why Not The Plague?

When talking about awful pandemic diseases, the first one that comes to mind for most people, is 'The Black Death', a pandemic of the bubonic plague that ravaged through Eurasia, killing up to a third of Europe's population. Some cities and areas even lost up 50% of their population. However, the Black Death is not a viral pandemic. The bubonic plague is caused by a strain of bacteria called Yersinia pestis. So while the Black Death was a terrible pandemic which will forever be etched into the history of the human race, it is not the cause of a virus.