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DNA Confirms Cause of 1665 London's Great Plague (bbc.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the all-fall-down dept.

Slashdot reader JThaddeus writes: The BBC reports that a 17th-century mass grave uncovered in London confirms the identity of the bacteria responsible for the Great Plague of 1665-1666. "Testing in Germany confirmed the presence of DNA from the Yersinia pestis bacterium -- the agent that causes bubonic plague -- rather than another pathogen." The grave contains approximately 3,500 skeletons... Teeth were removed from some of the skulls, and their pulp tested at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Positive results were found in 5 of 20 individuals tested.
"To reassure anyone worried whether plague bacterium was released from the excavation work or scientific analysis, it doesn't survive in the ground," reports the BBC. The 3,500 graves represent roughly 3.5% of London's 100,000 victims of the Great Plague -- one-quarter of the city's entire population.

9 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Unearthed Plague by mentil · · Score: 4, Informative

    The summary suggests that some "what terror have you unleashed?!" doomsday scenario could unfold with Yersinia Pestis being resurrected from extinction... but that's impossible. Yersinia Pestis still exists and causes about a dozen cases of bubonic plague annually, nowadays. It's easily treated with antibiotics, and those of European descent are thought to be resistant to it. If I recall my Wikipedia correctly.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Unearthed Plague by ilguido · · Score: 3, Informative

      Easily treated is bit of an understatement. A properly treated bubonic plague causes a risk of death of 10% according to wikipedia, and there is still the problem that symptoms appear in a few days after contagion, and death in 7-10 days from contagion, so it is critical an early diagnosis. Septicemic and pneumonic plague are even worse.

    2. Re:Unearthed Plague by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      those of European descent are thought to be resistant to it.

      I thought it was about London?

      They're still European for another two years (and it's a rolling two years as it keeps not starting) only after that will they not be Europeans and any children they have at that point may not be immune to the plague unless they cover it in their negotiations - that's why it takes so long, there are a lot of issues like this to consider.

    3. Re: Unearthed Plague by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Prairie dogs didn't carry plague until ranchers started using it to kill prairie dogs. So kind of poetic justice that they give it right back.

  2. dumb statement by bloodhawk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The thing to reassure people of is the fact the bubonic plague is treatable now unlike back then not that it can't live in the ground as that is a fairly pointless reassurance as the bacteria is still very much alive and well in the world. It still occasionally raises its head with outbreaks and results in 100+ deaths a year.

  3. Re:At what point? by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whatever you do, never just move the headstones.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  4. Re:At what point? by lxs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's this obsession with old bones?

    The people are gone. Those who mourned them are gone. Burn the remains and let vegetation reclaim the minerals.

  5. Re:In 1348 the Black Death took 60% by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aleppo is the absence of leppo.

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  6. Re:In 1348 the Black Death took 60% by saforrest · · Score: 4, Informative

    Interestingly, I believe we still haven't conclusively determined yet that the Black Death was also caused by Yersinia pestis. Some interesting alternative explanations exist. Or at least they did a few years ago.

    The fact that Y. pestis is responsible for the Black Death was conclusively determined a few years ago. In fact, the paleopathologist quoted in the featured article, Dr. Kirsten Bos, is the first author of a 2011 Nature paper presenting a genome of Yersinia pestis recovered from the remains of victims of the Black Death:

    Kirsten I. Bos*, Verena J. Schuenemann*, G. Brian Golding, Hernán A. Burbano, Nicholas Waglechner, Brian K. Coombes, Joseph B. McPhee, Sharon N. DeWitte, Matthias Meyer, Sarah Schmedes, James Wood, David J. D. Earn, D. Ann Herring, Peter Bauer, Hendrik N. Poinar, Johannes Krause. “A draft genome of Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death”. Nature 478: 506–510. doi:10.1038/nature10549