These findings suggest a new strain of plague could emerge again in humans in the future.
An international team of scientists has discovered that two of the world’s most devastating plagues – the plague of Justinian and the Black Death, each responsible for killing as many as half the people in Europe—were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen, one that faded out on its own, the other leading to worldwide spread and re-emergence in the late 1800s.
These findings suggest a new strain of plague could emerge again in humans in the future.
“The research is both fascinating and perplexing, it generates new questions which need to be explored, for example why did this pandemic, which killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million people die out?” questions Hendrik Poinar, associate professor and director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre and an investigator with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.
The findings are dramatic because little has been known about the origins or cause of the Justinian Plague– which helped bring an end to the Roman Empire – and its relationship to the Black Death, some 800 years later.
Scientists hope this could lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of modern infectious disease, including a form of the plague that still kills thousands every year.
The Plague of Justinian struck in the sixth century and is estimated to have killed between 30 and 50 million people — virtually half the world’s population as it spread across Asia, North Africa, Arabia and Europe. The Black Death would strike some 800 years later with similar force, killing 50 million Europeans between just 1347 and 1351 alone.
Using sophisticated methods, researchers from many universities including McMaster University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Sydney, isolated minuscule DNA fragments from the 1500-year-old teeth of two victims of the Justinian plague, buried in Bavaria, Germany. These are the oldest pathogen genomes obtained to date.
Using these short fragments, they reconstructed the genome of the oldest Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the plague, and compared it to a database of genomes of more than a hundred contemporary strains.
The results are currently published in the online edition of The Lancet Infectious Disease. They show the strain responsible for the Justinian outbreak was an evolutionary ‘dead-end’ and distinct from strains involved later in the Black Death and other plague pandemics that would follow.
The third pandemic, which spread from Hong Kong across the globe is likely a descendant of the Black Death strain and thus much more successful than the one responsible for the Justinian Plague.
“We know the bacterium Y. pestis has jumped from rodents into humans throughout history and rodent reservoirs of plague still exist today in many parts of the world. If the Justinian plague could erupt in the human population, cause a massive pandemic, and then die out, it suggest it could happen again. Fortunately we now have antibiotics that could be used to effectively treat plague, which lessens the chances of another large scale human pandemic” says Dave Wagner, an associate professor in the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University.
The samples used in the latest research were taken from two victims of the Justinian plague, buried in a gravesite in a small cemetery in the German town of Aschheim. Scientists believe the victims died in the latter stages of the epidemic when it had reached southern Bavaria, likely sometime between 541 and 543.
The skeletal remains yielded important clues and raised more questions.
The Latest on: Pandemics
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Pandemics” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Pandemics
- Taiwan’s indispensability in preparing for future pandemicson April 26, 2024 at 12:08 pm
Taiwan should be included, as a matter of pragmatism, in the World Health Assembly and all WHO meetings, activities, and mechanisms, particularly those concerned with the WHO pandemic agreement.
- Learning the lessons of mpox to prepare for future pandemicson April 26, 2024 at 5:05 am
Targeted support for marginalised communities, strong public messaging and a properly coordinated Government approach led by Ministers are amongst the recommendations contained in a new evidence-based ...
- Livestock farmers urged to embrace vaccination to curb diseaseson April 25, 2024 at 8:31 am
Reluctance by some livestock farmers to vaccinate their animals, some diseases which were previously known among animals, have since jumped to humans which may spark more pandemics in communities ...
- Crises like pandemics or financial crashes could stall progress on gender diversity in boardroomson April 24, 2024 at 12:14 pm
Forget shattering the glass ceiling—a new research study published in The Leadership Quarterly warns that crises like the recent COVID-19 pandemic or a global financial crash could slam the brakes on ...
- WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics?on April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The World Health Organization was criticised for being too slow to classify COVID-19 as airborne. Will the new terminology help next time?
- Taiwan Is Indispensable in Preparing for Future Pandemicson April 23, 2024 at 3:37 pm
As the WHO debates a new global health governance framework, Taiwan is left out of the discussion – to the detriment of future antipandemic efforts.
- Study sheds new light on cross-species virus spillovers that can cause pandemicson April 23, 2024 at 9:25 am
A study led by the University of Stirling jointly with the University of Wisconsin-Madison has shed new light on cross-species virus spillovers that can cause pandemics.
- A new road map shows how to prevent pandemicson April 19, 2024 at 8:00 am
The pandemic prevention road map, published March 26 in Nature Communications, recommends protecting or restoring places where animals forage and rest, and minimizing human-wildlife encounters in more ...
- Anthony Fauci: ‘We must be perpetually prepared for future pandemics’on April 18, 2024 at 5:02 am
The world must be “perpetually prepared” for the threat of future pandemics, according to Dr Anthony Fauci. The former Chief Medical Advisor to the US president of 40 years said a pandemic along the ...
- U.S. to Partner With 50 Countries to Prevent Future Pandemicson April 16, 2024 at 10:10 am
TUESDAY, April 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The Biden Administration announced Tuesday that it will work with 50 nations worldwide to try to prevent global pandemics such as COVID-19, which brought ...
via Bing News