Although the bubonic plague is usually associated with its deadly impact on 14th century Europe, traces of Yersinia pestis have also been found in skeletons found in modern-day Russia dating as far back as 5,000 years ago. However, thanks to recent analysis, researchers believe they have confirmed the first known case of plague outside Eurasia: a 3,290-year-old ancient Egyptian mummy.
Y. pestisalso known as the Black Death, is one of the most infamous diseases in history. Usually transmitted by fleas that hitchhike on rodents, bubonic plague attacks the lymphatic system and initially results in flu-like symptoms a few days after infection. From that moment on, things often become much grimmer and fatal. Lymph nodes in the groin, forearm and neck begin to swell painfully, while the infected victim experiences severe fever, chills and even seizures. Hematemesis (vomiting blood) occurs, along with the swollen lymph nodes developing into buboes that often rupture. Internal bleeding causes large areas to bruise and become necrotic – symptoms that earned the plague the nickname “Black Death.” Without proper modern antibiotic treatments, 30 to 90 percent of patients can ultimately die as a result of the disease.
Apart from its spread through Europe between 1346 and 1353, the The bubonic plague is believed to be the cause of Justinian’s plague in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century CE, as well as a third epidemic that occurred in China, Mongolia and India in 1855. But as researchers explained during a presentation at the European meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Y. pestis It is also confirmed to have existed at least at one point in ancient Egypt.
The team came to their conclusion after examining a mummy in Italy’s Museo Egizio dating from the Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom. According to researchers, DNA from both intestinal contents and bone tissue contained traces of Y. pestisimplying that the victim suffered an advanced stage of the plague before dying.
“This is the first reported prehistory Y. pestis genome outside Eurasia, providing molecular evidence for the presence of plague in ancient Egypt,” the team wrote in their report presentation summary.
Experts have theorized about the presence of the bubonic plague in ancient Egypt for decades. If IFL Science notes, a research team in 2004 fleas found thousands of years old at an archaeological site in Amarna on the banks of the Nile River. This, coupled with a 3,500 year old Egyptian medical text describing ‘a bubo’ [whose] pus is fossilized,” led scientists to believe that the Black Death arrived in communities along the riverbanks thousands of years ago. But without any direct evidence of this Y. pestisthe theory remained unproven. However, the discovery of remains of the bubonic plague in the mummy’s DNA appears to finally provide proof of its existence in ancient Egypt.
The team isn’t sure how widespread this is Y. pestis was only just in the region, but they hope their findings will help others “study virulence-associated genes and characterize their possible modes of transmission and pathology.”