Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
- 12,329
- Points
- 113
- Ethnic group
- Italian
See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4805-160831-germany-justinian-plague
"Live Science reports that scientists Michal Feldman, Johannes Krause, Michaela Harbeck, and their colleagues have conducted a new analysis of the genome of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium thought to have caused the Justinian plague. The researchers obtained a high-quality sample of DNA from the tooth of a sixth-century skeleton unearthed more than 50 years ago at Altenerding, a cemetery in southern Germany. The new study found mutations in the bacterial genome that the researchers say are associated with plague virulence. (As many as 50 million people in the Byzantine world are thought to have died of the plague between the sixth and the eighth centuries.) The new study also confirmed the conclusions of a previous study of Yersinia pestis, conducted by David Wagner of Northern Arizona University, that the strain could be traced back to China. “More high-quality genomes from different locations and time periods could shed light on the disease transmission routes and the rate that it spread,”
See also:
https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/high-coverage-genome-offers-peek-justinian-plague-genetics
"a German-led team teased apart subtle genetic differences that distinguished Yersinia pestis bacteria involved in a plague during that spanned the sixth to eighth century and the forms of Y. pestis bacteria behind the 14th century scourge known as Black Death."
"Results from the analysis suggest Justinian plague-causing forms of Y. pestis had significant divergence from strains associated with the Black Death, though the diversity of Justinian plague strains documented in southern Germany so far appears limited."
"Due to epidemiological differences between the Justinian plague, Black Death, and a more recent pandemic in China during the 19th century, some investigators previously suspected distinct pathogens were behind each pandemic.
With molecular evidence placing Y. pestis behind ancient and modern plagues, the team explained, there is interest in teasing apart genetic features associated with historical Y. pestis samples and characterizing pathogens with the potential for re-emergence from persisting reservoirs around the world."
Here's the link to the paper itself.
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/09/molbev.msw170.abstract
So, perhaps there was a less virulent strain, and then it mutated to become even more lethal.
Well, I guess we know why the genetics of the Balkans changed, and I remember there were effects all the way up to Britain. Any place linked by trade to the Empire would have been hit particularly hard.
Why does it always come from the east? The Indo-Europeans brought plague from the steppe, and now this came from China and probably reached Europe by the same steppe route, and the Medieval bubonic plague came from the Mongolian steppe, didn't it? In modern times all the bird flue and even just the regular flu comes from China too.
I wonder why they didn't compare this to the plague found in the Indo-Europeans?
Gosh, people were worrying about sickle cell anemia, which is a genetic disorder and which you can't catch. The migrants carrying pernicious, communicable disease came from the east.
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4805-160831-germany-justinian-plague
"Live Science reports that scientists Michal Feldman, Johannes Krause, Michaela Harbeck, and their colleagues have conducted a new analysis of the genome of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium thought to have caused the Justinian plague. The researchers obtained a high-quality sample of DNA from the tooth of a sixth-century skeleton unearthed more than 50 years ago at Altenerding, a cemetery in southern Germany. The new study found mutations in the bacterial genome that the researchers say are associated with plague virulence. (As many as 50 million people in the Byzantine world are thought to have died of the plague between the sixth and the eighth centuries.) The new study also confirmed the conclusions of a previous study of Yersinia pestis, conducted by David Wagner of Northern Arizona University, that the strain could be traced back to China. “More high-quality genomes from different locations and time periods could shed light on the disease transmission routes and the rate that it spread,”
See also:
https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/high-coverage-genome-offers-peek-justinian-plague-genetics
"a German-led team teased apart subtle genetic differences that distinguished Yersinia pestis bacteria involved in a plague during that spanned the sixth to eighth century and the forms of Y. pestis bacteria behind the 14th century scourge known as Black Death."
"Results from the analysis suggest Justinian plague-causing forms of Y. pestis had significant divergence from strains associated with the Black Death, though the diversity of Justinian plague strains documented in southern Germany so far appears limited."
"Due to epidemiological differences between the Justinian plague, Black Death, and a more recent pandemic in China during the 19th century, some investigators previously suspected distinct pathogens were behind each pandemic.
With molecular evidence placing Y. pestis behind ancient and modern plagues, the team explained, there is interest in teasing apart genetic features associated with historical Y. pestis samples and characterizing pathogens with the potential for re-emergence from persisting reservoirs around the world."
Here's the link to the paper itself.
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/09/molbev.msw170.abstract
So, perhaps there was a less virulent strain, and then it mutated to become even more lethal.
Well, I guess we know why the genetics of the Balkans changed, and I remember there were effects all the way up to Britain. Any place linked by trade to the Empire would have been hit particularly hard.
Why does it always come from the east? The Indo-Europeans brought plague from the steppe, and now this came from China and probably reached Europe by the same steppe route, and the Medieval bubonic plague came from the Mongolian steppe, didn't it? In modern times all the bird flue and even just the regular flu comes from China too.
I wonder why they didn't compare this to the plague found in the Indo-Europeans?
Gosh, people were worrying about sickle cell anemia, which is a genetic disorder and which you can't catch. The migrants carrying pernicious, communicable disease came from the east.