Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
- 12,329
- Points
- 113
- Ethnic group
- Italian
See:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122122515.htm
Here is the actual paper:
Eighteenth century Yersinia pestis genomes reveal the long-term persistence of an historical plague focus
http://elifesciences.org/content/early/2016/01/21/eLife.12994
"The 14th-18th century pandemic of Yersinia pestis caused devastating disease outbreaks in Europe for almost 400 years. The reasons for plague's persistence and abrupt disappearance in Europe are poorly understood, but could have been due to either the presence of now-extinct plague foci in Europe itself, or successive disease introductions from other locations. Here we present five Y. pestis genomes from one of the last European outbreaks of plague, from 1722 in Marseille, France. The lineage identified has not been found in any extant Y. pestis foci sampled to date, and has its ancestry in strains obtained from victims of the 14th century Black Death. These data suggest the existence of a previously uncharacterized historical plague focus that persisted for at least three centuries. We propose that this disease source may have been responsible for the many resurgences of plague in Europe following the Black Death."
If it did hide out in Europe all that time, and wasn't brought into Marseilles through trade, what was the local host?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122122515.htm
Here is the actual paper:
Eighteenth century Yersinia pestis genomes reveal the long-term persistence of an historical plague focus
http://elifesciences.org/content/early/2016/01/21/eLife.12994
"The 14th-18th century pandemic of Yersinia pestis caused devastating disease outbreaks in Europe for almost 400 years. The reasons for plague's persistence and abrupt disappearance in Europe are poorly understood, but could have been due to either the presence of now-extinct plague foci in Europe itself, or successive disease introductions from other locations. Here we present five Y. pestis genomes from one of the last European outbreaks of plague, from 1722 in Marseille, France. The lineage identified has not been found in any extant Y. pestis foci sampled to date, and has its ancestry in strains obtained from victims of the 14th century Black Death. These data suggest the existence of a previously uncharacterized historical plague focus that persisted for at least three centuries. We propose that this disease source may have been responsible for the many resurgences of plague in Europe following the Black Death."
If it did hide out in Europe all that time, and wasn't brought into Marseilles through trade, what was the local host?