Is the mystery solved?
Researchers have discovered the source of the black plague
A new study claims that the origin of smallpox was in the area of Lake Isik Kol in Kyrgyzstan in the 1930s.
Investigators identified a jump in the number of graves at 1338 and examined DNA from skeletal teeth buried in them
News agencies
16/06/2022
Thursday, 16 June 2022, 10:08 Updated: 10:19
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Investigators believe they discovered the source of the "black death" 600 years before it caused the deaths of tens of millions in Europe, Asia and Africa, the BBC reported today (Thursday).
The "black death" or black plague struck Asia and Europe in the 14th century for about four years (1347-1351) and killed, according to various estimates, between 75 and 200 million people in Europe and Asia, including 35 million people in China alone.
Outbreaks of the disease continued in Europe until the 17th century.
The skeletons under study
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However, even after years of research, scientists have not been able to identify where its eruption began.
Now a new analysis claims that the source was Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia in the 1930s.
A team of researchers from the University of Stirling in Scotland, the Max Planck Institute and the University of Tübingen in Germany examined ancient DNA samples from skeletal teeth in tombs near Lake Issik-Kul in Kyrgyzstan.
They chose the area after seeing a significant leap in the tombs there in the years 1338-1339.
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According to Maria Shapiro, a researcher at the University of Tübingen, the team sequenced DNA from seven skeletons.
They tested the teeth because, she said, they contain many blood vessels and give researchers "high chances of detecting blood pathogens that may have caused human deaths."
The research team was able to find crimson bacteria in three of the skeletons.
As the causative agent of the thing, infection with this bacterium can cause bovine, pulmonary and skeptical talk - all three forms of the disease were responsible for the epidemic in Emmaus, the great plague of London, the great thing and the black death.
According to Philip Selvin, a historian at Stirling University, "Our research solves one of the greatest and most fascinating questions in history and determines when and where the loneliest and most notorious murderer of human beings began."
The study has limitations, such as the small size of the samples.
But he was praised.
According to Michael Nap, a historian from New Zealand, "the study is of high value, but more skeletal data, periods and regions are needed to help understand its true meaning," he told the BBC.
The study was published in the journal Nature under the title "The source of the Black Death in fourteenth-century central Eurasia".
The black plague, or smallpox, is a contagious and deadly disease caused by crimson bacteria that live in animals, mainly rodents, and their fleas.
It is the most common disease in which people can be infected.
Its name is due to its symptoms - swollen and painful lymph nodes and black spots on the patients' bodies.
From 2010-2015, 3,248 cases of smallpox were reported, including 584 deaths.
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