Biologists have read the genome of Justinian's plague
An international group of scientific workers have read part of the genome of the strain of plague bacilli, which was the cause of so called of Justinian's plague epidemic that broke out in Europe in the VI century of our era. The work of the scientific workers published in the journal the Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The source of the genetic material steel 2 tooth found in the medieval cemetery of the city of Alhama in Bavaria. Carbon Dating has allowed to establish that the teeth belong to the people who lived in the early to mid-sixth century, at a time when the plague broke out in Constantinople (material 504 dated and 533 years, however mistake method is about 60 to 90 years).
Mapping read genome with the genomes of other famous views Yersinia pestis, even those that were the cause of the Black death of the fourteenth century, demonstrated that "iustinianus" the strain is so different from all of them. Apparently, this type of bacteria have either disappeared or became so rare that not identified in progressive natural reservoirs of the disease.
In this sense the strain of Justinian's plague significantly different from the strain of the Black death, the descendants of which resulted in the outbreak of the Asian plague in the beginning of XX century. They still exist in the wild rodent populations that are the reservoirs of the disease.
That the pathogens that cause 2 most common plague epidemics are not close relatives, speaks of epidemiological importance of natural reservoirs - the two strains came out independently. As the authors state, it is likely that natural reservoirs can be sources of fresh high-risk strains. However, while these bacteria are not acquired resistance to drugs, to expect large-scale epidemics early.
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