By: Owen Zhang

After centuries, scientists discovered that the Black Death disease originated in 1338-1339, near Issyk-Kul, a lake just west of China.

With the new analysis of ancient DNA, scientists can discover almost the exact date of the plague’s widespread explosion.

The disease, also known as the Black Death, causes black markings to appear on the victim’s body, hence the name Black Death. The disease itself is spread by a bacterium and is still very much alive to this day.

In the early to mid-14th century, the disease killed upwards to 60 percent of the European population.

Last Wednesday, a team of researchers revealed to the public their findings involving the Black Death.

The team explained how they extracted seven teeth, and how the pulp of the teeth contained dried blood vessels, which most likely included the bacteria that caused the Black Death.

“We managed to actually put to rest all those centuries-old controversies about the origins of the Black Death, “said Philip Slavin, a researcher part of the team whose work was published on Wednesday.

Philip Slavin organized a team of DNA researchers to piece together the DNA within the teeth and were able to provide further evidence of the bacteria’s existence.

Of course, this evidence isn’t absolute, but according to Michael Knapp, an associate professor at the New Zealand’s University of Otago who was not involved in the study, it was nevertheless “really valuable”.

From the efforts of this research team, new discoveries were made about this disease and will allow for future discoveries about different disease outbreaks throughout history.

Link: Black Death origin mystery solved after 675 years, researchers say – CBS News

Black Death: A Clue to Where the Plague Originated – The New York Times (nytimes.com)