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Post by Διαμονδ on Oct 26, 2017 13:18:00 GMT
Genetics from Germany have found that the famous Bacillus of medieval "black death" did not disappear immediately after the epidemic, it existed in the dark corners of Europe for at least another four centuries, periodically causing epidemics in different regions.Recovered the genome of the plague pathogen that caused the epidemic of the disease in Marseilles in 1722, showed that the medieval bacterium that caused the black death in the mid 14th century, is not extinct after its end and lasted in Europe for at least another four centuries, according to a paper published in the journal eLife. "We are extremely afraid of the idea that plague could be hiding just somewhere around the corner all over Europe, living inside some unknown carriers of this disease. Future experiments and excavations can help us to understand who or what type of animals served as their carrier, where they lived and why they disappeared," said Johannes Krause (Johannes Krause) from the Institute of human history in Jena (Germany). Krause and his colleagues are the "discoverers" of medieval Yersinia pestis or four years ago they managed to extract fragments of DNA of the pathogen of the victims of "black death" in London, to restore its genome and show that this bacterium disappeared and today no longer exists. In his new work, they showed that the medieval strain of Yersinia pestis has not gone as fast as they previously believed, conducted similar experiments with the bones of victims of the plague epidemic which swept through Marseille in 1720-22 years, during the reign of Louis XV. This epidemic was the last major outbreak of plague in Europe – it has claimed over 100 thousand lives and caused strong economic decline in the region, which lasted about 7-8 years. Thanks to stringent measures, including the construction of a "plague wall" around Marseille and its environs, the spread of the disease was avoided. Group Krause extracted the genetic material of Yersinia pestis from the teeth of the two dozen people who died of the plague in Marseilles, and used it to revive the DNA of this microbe. The accuracy of the recovery this time was slightly higher than that of the DNA of the "black death", and each fragment of the genome of Yersinia pestis Marseille has been read 12 times. Comparing her DNA with that how the genes in modern and medieval varieties of Yersinia pestis, the authors were surprised to find that the plague of Marseilles were almost identical in their genetic structure of the Bacillus of the "black death" rather than the more modern strains of this organism. This means that the medieval Yersinia pestis, contrary to the views of scientists, somehow managed to survive, hiding among populations of wild or domestic animals, and occasionally "out of hiding", causing epidemics, like Marseilles. While scientists are not ready to talk about where the plague could hide and how she could get to Provence and Marseille. Traditionally, 1720-22 the epidemic years was caused by rats from the ship Grand-Saint-Antoine in Marseilles from the Levant. The opening of Krause and his colleagues said that plague could be imported, not necessarily from Lebanon: it could cause "local" bacteria, the estimated carriers are still being found, conclude genetics. ria.ru/science/20160124/1363505670.html?inj=1
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Post by Lone Wanderer on Nov 24, 2017 20:22:01 GMT
Plague was Mongols' bioweapon.
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