[Ansteorra] Black death sequence

[Robert G. Ferrell]

On 10/13/2011 5:47 PM, Ely wrote:

> One of the pathology newsfeeds I subscribe to had an artical on Y
> pestis,the organisms that causes plague. Researchers collected DNA
> from 4 black death victims buried in a London cemetery in 1348. The y
> pestis collected was completed sequenced. The research purpose was to
> find out why the symptoms are different in today's victims. Turns out
> the organism hasn't changed much. The difference was more living
> conditions, weather,  war and other environmental issues. This paper
> might be an interesting source for historically accurate information
> on London living.

The more significant aspect of this paper is that it was the first one
to assert with convincing genetic evidence that Yersinia pestis was, in
fact, the causative pathogen for at least three of the major "black
death" outbreaks in recorded history. Up until now we have only been
able to conjecture that this was the case.

No one has yet been able to prove categorically that "black death" and
bubonic plague are one and the same disease, incidentally, although with
the new Y. pestis evidence I think the gap is closing.

Cynric