Scientists Sequence Black Death Bacteria DNA
2nd September 2011
The bacteria behind the Black Death has a very unusual history. Its ancestor is an unassuming soil bacterium and the current strains of Yersinia pestis still infects thousands of people annually, but no longer cause the suite of horrifying symptoms associated with the medieval plagues. The radical differences between the two versions, in fact, led some to suggest that we have been blaming the wrong bacteria. Now, researchers have obtained DNA from some of London’s plague victims and confirmed that Y. pestis appears to be to blame. But the sequences also suggest that the strains of bacteria we see today may be different from the ones that rampaged through Europe.
September 2nd, 2011 at 14:28
The next target will be the Justinian Plague of 542. That will prove equally interesting.
Great stuff going on in the hisory field.