The variant probably originated from marmots in the mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan and has transmitted the bacteria to humans. The pathogen then spread via the Silk Road, an ancient trade route from China through Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe.
The same strain of the plague bacterium was also found in a woodchuck that still lives in northern Kyrgyzstan, according to the researchers.
With their work, the research team of experts from several universities hopes to answer the question of where the Black Death first occurred hundreds of years later. Previously, India and East Asia, especially China, were mentioned as possible sources.
‘first wave’
The Black Death was not the first plague epidemic. an earlier variant Yersinia pestis For example, it caused the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, which killed millions of people in the Byzantine Empire (including present-day Greece and Turkey) and parts of Europe and North Africa.
But the researchers write that the Black Death could be seen as the “first wave” of a pandemic that’s been around for nearly 500 years since the 14th century. Even today, infections of pneumonia or bubonic plague are regularly reported, especially in Peru, China and Madagascar.
The difference with the first medieval wave is that the disease can now be treated with antibiotics, even though they have to be administered very quickly. The last case of plague in the Netherlands dates from 1929: a person on a ship in the port of Rotterdam contracted bubonic plague.
Source: NOS
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