Posted on 07/25/2020 10:53:57 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Scientists have discovered extinct strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons - proving for the first time that the killer disease plagued humanity for at least 1400 years.
Smallpox spread from person to person via infectious droplets, killed around a third of sufferers and left another third permanently scarred or blind. Around 300 million people died from it in the 20th century alone before it was officially eradicated in 1980 through a global vaccination effort - the first human disease to be wiped out...
He said: "We discovered new strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons and found their genetic structure is different to the modern smallpox virus eradicated in the 20th century...
Smallpox was eradicated throughout most of Europe and the United States by the beginning of the 20th century but remained endemic throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. The World Health Organisation launched an eradication programme in 1967... [b]ut it was the global roll out of a vaccine that ultimately enabled scientists to stop smallpox in its tracks.
Historians believe smallpox may have existed since 10,000 BC but until now there was no scientific proof that the virus was present before the 17th century...
The team of researchers found smallpox - caused by the variola virus - in 11 Viking-era burial sites in Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the UK. They also found it in multiple human remains from Öland, an island off the east coast of Sweden with a long history of trade. The team were able to reconstruct near-complete variola virus genomes for four of the samples.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
It is also spread by drilling into the teeth of dead Vikings.
Practice social distancing …...
Ol, I chuckled a bit.
Random weird question:
I wonder how the Mongol practice of depopulating entire areas impacted the spread of diseases from east to west back in the day?
Did it halt some plagues?
Did it push plagues to the west with the refugees that managed to get away?
Well that’s fecking disgusting.
:-P
Of course it is.
Arabs. They’re all about the gross.
SmallPox and the Plague are the 2 worst infections diseases of all time. One a virus and one a bacterium.
Malaria is probably an honorable mention. or dishonorable to be more accurate.
If only they’d won one of those Super Bowls.
What are the consequences of “digging” into smallpox infestations? It’s one of the reasons I don’t agree with grave digging.
What did Fauci do? He was around back then wasn’t he?
So ... if we can’t say COVID was started by the Chinese without being called racists, is this author racist against Vikings? /s
lr
The usual way — armor, axe-swingin’, sword thrustin’ shield wall last resortin’ berserkin’!
Judging from the teeth, this was a pretty young person in their prime.
Probably flossed every day. Good dental care helps stave off certain health problems. :^)
Damn blonde white vikings, killing people with their white diseases
But she was a really pretty camel
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