Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

A sharper picture of a pandemic: Uncovering the complex history of the plague after the Black Death

phys.org · 1hShare

The Black Death is often remembered as a single catastrophic event that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Yet the disease did not disappear after that first devastating outbreak. For more than four centuries, plague continued to return in recurring waves, reshaping communities, economies and societies across Europe and beyond. A new study led by researchers at the University of Tartu sheds fresh light on this long and complex history by analyzing the DNA of the plague bacterium preserved in archaeological human remains. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

First report: Plague was killing entire families thousands of years before the Black Death — sciencedaily.com, 1d