Scientists resurrect an ancient killer plague, but why?

Scientists have reconstructed the genome of an ancient bacteria that was responsible for one of the most devastating plagues in human history. The Plague of Justinian has been resurrected, at least in the lab.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The Plague of Justinian was one of the most deadly disease outbreaks in world history. The disease devastated the ancient Persian and Byzantine empires and ravaged Europe. At a time when the world population was less than 300 millions souls, between 25 to 50 million people died.

Chroniclers wrote the people became delusional and feverish, with their lymph nodes swelling to dramatic size. These symptoms where the first clue for modern historians that the Plague of Justinian was an early outbreak of Yersenia Pestis, the same bacteria that causes the Black Death.

Researchers spent years trying to prove their hunch and were finally able to extract DNA from plague victims and sequence it. The sequence provided the data they needed. The Plague of Justinian was caused by Yersenia Pestis, but a different strain from the one that caused the Black Death between 1347 and 1354.

Researchers have now found another very good sample of DNA taken from a mass grave in Germany. The sample comes from the same area as the first sample, but not the same place. The proximity of the two samples means both probably died from the exact same strain of the disease, at about the same time.

The new DNA sequence is more detailed and accurate than the first, and allowed scientists to add to what they know about the original genome. They were also able to correct mistakes in the original sequence.

The finding helps scientists learn more about how diseases evolve and how they spread. One mystery endures, which scientists would like to understand: how did the disease spread into Germany from Southern Europe. During the sixth century, travel into Germany from Southern Europe was uncommon. It is most likely humans brought the disease in some form, but nobody knows from what direction.

Studying the disease, will help answer this mystery and others that have eluded scientists and historians for centuries.

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