Posted on 10/20/2010 12:55:40 AM PDT by neverdem
Geographical position of the five archaeological sites investigated. Green dots indicate the sites. Also indicated are two likely independent infection routes (black and red dotted arrows) for the spread of the Black Death (1347-1353) after Benedictow.
©: PLoS Pathogens
The 'Black Death' was caused by at least two previously unknown types of Yersinia pestis bacteria.
The latest tests conducted by anthropologists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have proven that the bacteria Yersinia pestis was indeed the causative agent behind the "Black Death" that raged across Europe in the Middle Ages. The cause of the epidemic has always remained highly controversial and other pathogens were often named as possible causes, in particular for the northern European regions. Using DNA and protein analyses from skeletons of plague victims, an international team led by the scientists from Mainz has now conclusively shown that Yersinia pestis was responsible for the Black Death in the 14th century and the subsequent epidemics that continued to erupt throughout the European continent for the next 400 years. The tests conducted on genetic material from mass graves in five countries also identified at least two previously unknown types of Yersinia pestis that occurred as pathogens.
"Our findings indicate that the plague traveled to Europe over at least two channels, which then went their own individual ways," explains Dr. Barbara Bramanti from the Institute of Anthropology of Mainz University. The works, published in the open access journal PLoS Pathogens, now provide the necessary basis for conducting a detailed historical reconstruction of how this illness spread.
For a number of years, Barbara Bramanti has been researching major epidemics that were rampant throughout Europe and their possible selective consequences as part of a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). For the recently published work, 76 human skeletons were examined from suspected mass graves for plague victims in England, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. While other infections such as leprosy can be easily identified long after death by the deformed bones, the problem faced in the search for plague victims lies in the fact that the illness can lead to death within just a few days and leaves no visible traces. With luck, DNA of the pathogen may still be present for many years in the dental pulp or traces of proteins in the bones. Even then it is difficult to detect, and may be distorted through possible contamination. The team led by Bramanti found their results by analyzing old genetic material, also known as ancient DNA (aDNA): Ten specimens from France, England, and the Netherlands showed a Yersinia pestis-specific gene. Because the samples from Parma, Italy and Augsburg, Germany gave no results, they were subjected to another method known as immunochromatography (similar to the method used in home pregnancy tests for example), this time with success.
Once the infection with Yersinia pestis had been conclusively proven, Stephanie Hänsch and Barbara Bramanti used an analysis of around 20 markers to test if one of the known bacteria types "orientalis" or "medievalis" was present. But neither of these two types was found. Instead, two unknown forms were identified, which are older and differ from the modern pathogens found in Africa, America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union regions. One of these two types, which are thought to have contributed significantly to the catastrophic course of the plague in the 14th century, most probably no longer exists today. The other appears to have similarities with types that were recently isolated in Asia.
In their reconstruction, Hänsch and Bramanti show an infection path that runs from the initial transportation of the pathogen from Asia to Marseille in November 1347, through western France to northern France and over to England. Because a different type of Yersinia pestis was found in Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands, the two scientists believe that the South of the Netherlands was not directly infected from England or France, but rather from the North. This would indicate another infection route, which ran from Norway via Friesland and down to the Netherlands. Further investigations are required to uncover the complete route of the epidemic. "The history of this pandemic," stated Hänsch, "is much more complicated than we had previously thought."
More information: Haensch, S., Bianucci, R., et al. (2010) Distinct Clones of Yersinia pestis Caused the Black Death PLoS Pathog 6(10): e1001134. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1001134
Correcting the earlier error ~ BLACK PLAGUE BACTERIA (not virus).
In areas where people just died in large numbers and no one was left to bury them, the numbers aren't known.
Some estimates rely on apparent economic activity "before" and "after".
The Chinese estimates are huge, and equally unreliable. The fact that a relatively small group ~ the Mongols ~ were able to subsequently conquer China and India ~ then, and now, the world's most populous nations ~ should give all of us some idea of who died and who didn't.
If blood type O was predominant in the pre-plague era and blood type A was predominant after, could we say that A was selected for via the plague.
Statistically, O is stronger against heart disease and cancer, but weak for anything that came from Pandora's Box. A's die like flies even today, and at younger ages, from cancer and heart disease.
Fox news last night had a mention of the French, who despite their diet had a lot of longevity. France should have been wiped out by plague, but there were pockets that refused outsiders entry. None died. They would still be heavily O’s.
It's more like a series of diseases, some viral in nature and others bacterial, require some point of attachment on cell surfaces that simply isn't there in some people. This theory has been studied to some degree and the diseases identified. There are people immune to both black plague and cholera, and they appear to be immune to several other quite deadly but common infectious diseases.
Alas, none of the studies have been able to pin down the cause of this immunity (which includes an immunity to AIDs).
Justinian’s Plague was in the 6th century, not the same plague as the black death of the 14th and 15th century.
What bugs me is that everybody knows that the Roman Empire took censuses to (among other things) set taxes, and were careful to preserve these records. If we could recover them we would be able to easily figure the numbers for the sixth century plague, since the Byzantine Empire was at its greatest extent during the plague.
:’) Never hire a rat to clean the house. ;’)
In Europe the Jews were widely blamed for the Black Death (well poisoning, spells, the usual bag of malarkey) and were driven out, murdered, and scrolls and temples were incinerated.
The lighter side of the Black Death . . . .
that “cat” item is quoted all the time, but I’ve never seen a scientific study on it.
The European “witch craze” was about 200 years after the black plague, and of course the black plague was world wide, not just in Europe.
You are correct. I think this was the first instance of Plague infestation and it spread from there.
Note: this topic is from 10/20/2010. Thanks neverdem.
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
