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posted by janrinok on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the stop-bugging-me dept.

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

How humans survived the plague for millenia

One of civilization's most prolific killers shadowed humans for thousands of years without their knowledge.

The bacteria Yersinia pestis, which causes the plague, is thought to be responsible for up to 200 million deaths across human history — more than twice the casualties of World War II.

The Y. pestis death toll comes from three widespread disease outbreaks, known as epidemics: the sixth century Justinianic Plague that ravaged the Eastern Roman Empire; the 14th century Black Death that killed somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent of the European population; and the ongoing Third Pandemic, which began in China in the mid-19th century and currently afflicts thousands worldwide.

Scientists long assumed that the deadly disease began infecting humans just before the earliest epidemic, the Justinianic Plague.

But recent paleogenetics research reveals that plague has been with us for millennia longer: Ancient DNA (aDNA) from the bacteria was recovered from human skeletons as old as 4,900 years. This means people were contracting and dying from plague at least 3,000 years before there's any archaeological or historical evidence for an epidemic.

Why didn't these earlier infections lead to devastating outbreaks like the Black Death? It seems the answer is part biological — genetic mutations to the bacteria itself — and part cultural — changes to human lifestyles that encouraged the spread of the disease.

[...] The harsh reality is that it's exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to control a pathogen, its possible mutations or its next outbreak. But understanding how human behaviors affect the spread and virulence of a disease can inform preparations for the future.

As a society, we can take organized measures to reduce the spread of infection, whether by limiting over-congestion, controlling food waste, or restricting access to contaminated areas. Human behaviors are just as critical to our disease susceptibility as are the characteristics of the pathogen itself.

This article is republished from The Conversation by Sonja Eliason, MPhil Candidate in Bioscience Enterprise, University of Cambridge and Bridget Alex, Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @08:56PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @08:56PM (#924265)

    Point was "thousands worldwide" ain't exactly a pandemic or even an epidemic. Not even if it's the plague or smallpox. It's more of a nothingburger.

    How does the old saw go? "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when *you* lose your job."

    I'm sure it's a "nothingburger" for you, but not so much for the thousands who suffer from Yersinia Pestis. Even if you don't die, it's painful and really disgusting.

    And while I'm not real broken up about it, especially since no one I know is affected, I can still sympathize with the folks who are, and would like to see this scourge controlled better than it is today.

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:35PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:35PM (#924284) Homepage Journal

    Scourge would be fine as well but even epidemic isn't remotely accurate unless it's all in one town.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.