Plague grave excavations contradict tales of naked bodies piled in pits
Archaeologists find evidence that survivors of epidemic still used coffins and buried victims in Christian east-west positionIn the summer of 1665, as the great plague ripped the heart out of the medieval city of London, people were still managing to bury the dead in coffins, correctly aligned in the traditional Christian east-west position wherever possible, according to the evidence of newly excavated plague graves.The proof from a plague pit at the Bethlem burial ground, where the last of 4,000 skeletons are being excavated before a new Crossrail station is built beside Liverpool Street station, contradicts apparent wit...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 12, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Maev Kennedy Tags: Bubonic plague London Archaeology Infectious diseases Science Society UK news Source Type: news
Scientists Back Off Some Findings in NYC Subway Microbiome Study
Scientists who mapped the DNA of the New York City subway system have backed off a claim that they discovered traces of anthrax and bubonic plague at several stations, after federal and city public health officials strongly disputed the findings. (Source: WSJ.com: Health)
Source: WSJ.com: Health - August 3, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: PAID Source Type: news
How small genetic change in Yersinia pestis changed human history
While studying Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for epidemics of plague such as the Black Death, scientists found a single small genetic change that fundamentally influenced the evolution of the deadly pathogen, and thus the course of human history. They demonstrated how the acquisition of a single gene caused the shift of Y. pestis from causing a primarily gastrointestinal infection to a more serious and often fatal respiratory disease and how later modifications lead to infections associated with the bubonic plague. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - June 30, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
How small genetic change in Yersinia pestis changed human history
(Northwestern University) While studying Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for epidemics of plague such as the Black Death, scientists found a single small genetic change that fundamentally influenced the evolution of the deadly pathogen, and thus the course of human history. They demonstrated how the acquisition of a single gene caused the shift of Y. pestis from causing a primarily gastrointestinal infection to a more serious and often fatal respiratory disease and how later modifications lead to infections associated with the bubonic plague. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Colorado Plague Outbreak Traced Back To Pet Dog
Researchers have traced a 2014 outbreak of plague in Colorado back to a pit bull, according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A Colorado man identified only as “Patient A” fell ill in late June and was incorrectly diagnosed with pneumonia, according to Friday's report. More than a week later, doctors determined his fever, coughing and bloody mucus were caused by the bacteria Yersinia Pestis, which causes plague.
Doctors diagnosed the man with pneumonic plague, meaning the infection was in his lungs. It took 23 days in the hospital for him to recover, according to the report.
...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - May 1, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Officials concerned by plague-carrying fleas in Arizona
Brooks HaysFLAGSTAFF, Ariz., April 6 (UPI) -- Arizona officials are monitoring flea populations after prairie dog dens tested positive for the bacteria that causes the disease known as the bubonic plague. (Source: Health News - UPI.com)
Source: Health News - UPI.com - April 6, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Bubonic plague-carrying fleas found on New York City rats
Spend any length of time in New York City and a rat will show its whiskery face or worm-like tail. It could be on the subway tracks or nibbling through the garbage on the side of the street. It could also be carrying the bubonic plague. (Source: The Independent - Science)
Source: The Independent - Science - March 4, 2015 Category: Science Tags: Americas Source Type: news
NYC rats, fleas could carry bubonic plague
Some of the fleas found on urban rats are capable of transmitting the Black Death; fortunately one key element is missing (Source: Health News: CBSNews.com)
Source: Health News: CBSNews.com - March 3, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Disease-carrying fleas abound on New York City's rats
In the first study of its kind since the 1920s, rats in New York City were found to carry a flea species capable of transmitting plague pathogens. Among them: 500-plus Oriental rat fleas, notorious for their role in transmitting the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - March 3, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
This Week in Science: Plague Gerbils, Spilling Coffee, and the Downside of Dishwashers
Seven days, lots of science in the news. Here's our roundup of some of the week's most notable and quotable items:
Illustration by Sarah Peavey
The waves of bubonic plague that washed through medieval Europe might have been driven by gerbils, not rats.
Doses of the "love hormone" oxytocin kept rats from getting drunk, suggesting a possible treatment for alcoholism.
Dragonflies have superior color vision, thanks to eyes containing up to 30 different kinds of opsins, a group of light-sensitive proteins; humans, by comparison, possess merely three types of opsins.
The ideal length of eyelashes is one-third the width ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - February 27, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
The black rat's blackened name
Telegraph View: It was not rats which carried the medieval Black Plague but an altogether cuter animal (Source: Telegraph Health)
Source: Telegraph Health - February 25, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: gerbils University of Oslo Prof Nils Christian Stenseth Europe bubonic plague BBC medieval England Rats Asia Black death Source Type: news
Great gerbils – not black rats – were chief cause of the great plague, study says
Researchers claim Black Death was imported from Asia over 400 years of the pandemic via native rodents such as great gerbils and marmots which harboured the plague bacteriaThe gruesome waves of bubonic plague that began with the Black Death in medieval Europe and ended with the Great Plague of London may have been driven more by great gerbils than black rats, researchers claim.In a study that threatens to overturn the popular history of one of the world’s greatest health disasters, scientists suggest that the disease had little to do with pest-ridden rats lurking in European cities, but was instead imported from Asia tim...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 25, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Ian Sample, science editor Tags: Infectious diseases Science Medical research UK news World news Health Norway Europe Animals Source Type: news
Scientists rethink source of bubonic plague in Europe
A group of scientists say that history has been blaming the wrong rodent for bringing the deadly epidemic to Europe. (Source: Health News: CBSNews.com)
Source: Health News: CBSNews.com - February 25, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Gerbils, Not Rats, May Have Caused Bubonic Plague
You will never look at your pet gerbil the same way again. (Source: ABC News: Health)
Source: ABC News: Health - February 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health Source Type: news
Great gerbils – not black rats – were chief cause of the great plague, study says
Researchers claim Black Death was imported from Asia over 400 years of the pandemic via native rodents such as great gerbils and marmots which harboured the plague bacteriaThe gruesome waves of bubonic plague that began with the Black Death in medieval Europe and ended with the Great Plague of London may have been driven more by great gerbils than black rats, researchers claim.In a study that threatens to overturn the popular history of one of the world’s greatest health disasters, scientists suggest that the disease had little to do with pest-ridden rats lurking in European cities, but was instead imported from Asia tim...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 24, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Ian Sample, science editor Tags: Infectious diseases Science Medical research UK news World news Health Norway Europe Animals Source Type: news
