It's not hugely common, thankfully. Last example I ran into was one of the better authors who do enough research to be historically convincing. Which made it st

It's not hugely common, thankfully. Last example I ran into was one of the better authors who do enough research to be historically convincing. Which made it stand out all the more as they should have known better! As you note there was a lot of death from pestilence. I'm happy for antibiotics preventing minor injuries turning into life threatening infections, and to share house with a few spiders rather than plague carrying fleas and rats.