plague

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  12/3/19
  

  The Justinianic Plague's Devastating Impact Was Likely Exaggerated

  by Katherine J. Wu

  After poring through data ranging from historical texts to pollen samples and mortuary archaeology, an international team of researchers has concluded that reports of the havoc wreaked by the Justinianic plague may have been exaggerated.

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• SOURCE: History.com
  November 15, 2019
  

  The first time the plague broke out in the US, Officials tried to deny it

  by Becky Little

  In 1900, newspapers and politicians claimed the doctor trying to stop the plague had made the whole thing up. 

• 
• SOURCE: Science Magazine
  3/6/19
  

  The Black Death may have transformed medieval societies in sub-Saharan Africa

  Some researchers point to new evidence from archaeology, history, and genetics to argue that the Black Death likely did sow devastation in medieval sub-Saharan Africa. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Local
  12-7-2018
  

  Ancient strain of plague found in Sweden – and it could rewrite history

  A group of researchers from Sweden, Denmark and France analyzed skeletons from a tomb outside Falköping and found DNA traces of yersinia petis, the bacteria that cause plague.

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  2-23-15
  

  New Study: Plague outbreaks that ravaged Europe for centuries were driven by climate changes in Asia

  These outbreaks were traditionally thought to be caused by rodent reservoirs of infected rats lurking in Europe’s cities, or potentially by rodent reservoirs in the wilderness. But research published in the journal PNAS suggests otherwise.

• SOURCE: Huffington Post
  5-12-13
  

  Plague helped end Roman Empire

  Plague may have helped finish off the Roman Empire, researchers now reveal.Plague is a fatal disease so infamous that it has become synonymous with any dangerous, widespread contagion. It was linked to one of the first known examples of biological warfare, when Mongols catapulted plague victims into cities.The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, has been linked with at least two of the most devastating pandemics in recorded history. One, the Great Plague, which lasted from the 14th to 17th centuries, included the infamous epidemic known as the Black Death, which may have killed nearly two-thirds of Europe in the mid-1300s. Another, the Modern Plague, struck around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, beginning in China in the mid-1800s and spreading to Africa, the Americas, Australia, Europe and other parts of Asia. [In Photos: 14th-Century 'Black Death' Graveyard]....