Aug 11, 2025 06:10 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1093834
KEY POINTS: Role of livestock in spreading the plague: Yersinia pestis has been identified in a 4,000-year-old sheep, indicating that livestock played a role in spreading an early form of plague that once circulated throughout Eurasia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age (LNBA) periods.
Spillover from unknown reservoir: Genetic analysis reveals that humans and sheep were infected by nearly identical plague strains. The disease was contracted through spillover from an unknown wild animal reservoir, and sheep grazing over large pastures likely increased human exposure to the pathogen.
Distinct plague evolution: The LNBA plague lineage, found in both sheep and humans, lacked the genetic machinery necessary for flea transmission. This lineage exhibited parallel genetic changes under strong evolutionary constraints, suggesting different disease dynamics compared to later historic plagues.
Historical context: The increase in livestock herding during the Bronze Age may have led to greater contact between humans, animals, and wild reservoirs of the plague. This underscores the importance of animal domestication and husbandry in the emergence and spread of major zoonotic diseases... (MORE - details, no ads)
PAPER: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.07.029
KEY POINTS: Role of livestock in spreading the plague: Yersinia pestis has been identified in a 4,000-year-old sheep, indicating that livestock played a role in spreading an early form of plague that once circulated throughout Eurasia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age (LNBA) periods.
Spillover from unknown reservoir: Genetic analysis reveals that humans and sheep were infected by nearly identical plague strains. The disease was contracted through spillover from an unknown wild animal reservoir, and sheep grazing over large pastures likely increased human exposure to the pathogen.
Distinct plague evolution: The LNBA plague lineage, found in both sheep and humans, lacked the genetic machinery necessary for flea transmission. This lineage exhibited parallel genetic changes under strong evolutionary constraints, suggesting different disease dynamics compared to later historic plagues.
Historical context: The increase in livestock herding during the Bronze Age may have led to greater contact between humans, animals, and wild reservoirs of the plague. This underscores the importance of animal domestication and husbandry in the emergence and spread of major zoonotic diseases... (MORE - details, no ads)
PAPER: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.07.029