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According to a statement released by the University of South Florida, a mass grave containing the remains of victims of the Plague of Justinian (A.D. 541–750) has been identified at the site of Jerash in northern Jordan by a team of researchers led by Rays H.Y. Jiang of the University of South Florida. Hundreds of people were buried within several days in this mass grave dug in the city's hippodrome. "By linking biological evidence from the bodies to the archaeological setting, we can see how disease affected real people within their social and environmental context," Jiang said. Examination of the...

According to a statement released by Antiquity, analysis of skeletal remains recovered from a seventeenth-century hospital cemetery in Basel, Switzerland, suggests that young laborers were the people most likely to die during an outbreak of plague. As a trade center that drew people in from abroad, the city of Basel was vulnerable to the spread of Yersinia pestis bacteria and outbreaks of plague. The last recorded outbreak of the disease in Basel occurred between 1665 and 1670. Researchers led by osteoarchaeologist Laura Rindlisbacher of the University of Basel examined skeletal remains recovered from the hospital cemetery dated to this period,...

One of humanity’s oldest and deadliest killers is staging a modern-day comeback. The so-called “white plague” reclaimed its title as the world’s deadliest infectious disease in 2023 after being briefly overtaken by COVID-19 during the first three years of the pandemic. And the US isn’t immune. While the country still has one of the lowest rates globally, cases have been climbing steadily since 2020 — reversing three decades of decline. Just this week, in fact, the man accused of murdering 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman failed to show up for a detention hearing because he’s being treated for tuberculosis....

The infamous Black Death -- a pandemic that killed as many as one third to one half of Europeans within just a few years -- may have been aided in its devastation by an unknown volcanic eruption.That's the hypothesis presented in research published December 4 in Communications Earth & Environment, which argues that the eruption triggered several seasons of climate instability and crop failures. That instability, in turn, forced several Italian states to import grain stores from new sources -- specifically, from regions surrounding the Black Sea. Riding along on those grain stores, the researchers posit, were fleas infected with...

At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. Infectious disease specialists noted that a handful of plague cases are diagnosed each year. The bacterium responsible, Yersinia pestis, is transmitted by fleas and cycles naturally among rodents. At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. (WKRC, file, Provided) "If a person is around these rodents where the fleas are, the fleas can jump off the rodents, get on the person, and...

Officials believe an infected flea bit the sick person, who was camping in the South Lake Tahoe area.Health officials in California identified a positive case of plague in a Lake Tahoe resident. El Dorado County officials said in a release that they have notified the California Department of Health that a resident from South Lake Tahoe has plague. The person is recovering at home and is receiving medical care, the El Dorado County release said. No other information about the person or the person's condition was released. Officials believe an infected flea bit the sick person, who was camping in...

Health officials in California identified a positive case of plague in a Lake Tahoe resident. El Dorado County officials said in a release that they have notified the California Department of Health that a resident from South Lake Tahoe has plague. Officials believe an infected flea bit the sick person, who was camping in the South Lake Tahoe area, the release said. Officials are investigating.

Saturday, November 2, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/11/02/international1651EST0195.DTL (11-02) 13:51 PST JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- A California doctor who committed suicide after being accused in a murder plot gave deadly germs to apartheid South Africa's secret chemical and biological weapons program, CBS' "60 Minutes" reported Sunday. Larry C. Ford met with scientists from South Africa's Project Coast in the 1980s to discuss chemical and biological warfare, Wouter Basson, who headed the project, told the program. He also passed a bag filled with cholera, typhoid, botulism, anthrax and bubonic plague to a South African military doctor during a meeting...

Frank Herbert thought so. He wrote the "Dune" books; he wrote about blowback from the Irish "troubles" in which a virology scientist, engineers a disease that kills all women, of all races. The books is called White Plague. Current bio-warfare policy is not to wipe out tens of millions of people, notwithstanding the Spanish flu (accidental) and Dr. Ralph Baric's insertion of the furin clevage site into the Sars Covid 2008 that formerly could not surpass the blood-brain barrier until deliberately engineered (non-accidental). Current bio-warfare policy is toward high-infectious, low-lethality organisms, to cause economic injury to countries like China and...

More than six months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, as scientific understanding of the novel coronavirus continues to evolve, one question remains decidedly unanswered. How will this pandemic come to an end? Current scientific understanding is that only a vaccine will put an end to this pandemic, but how we get there remains to be seen. It seems safe to say, however, that some day, somehow, it will end. After all, other viral pandemics have. Take, for example, the flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

If you’re ever despairing about the state of the world, you can — at least, according to some scholars — be thankful it’s not the year 536 CE. To be fair, it’s medieval scholars, not 21st-century ones, who called 536 CE the worst year to be alive. But hear them out, because it sounds pretty bad. That year, a massive volcano erupted, historians believe, filling the air with volcanic ash. Of course, the majority of people affected by the disaster had no idea what was happening — they just knew it was very suddenly very dark for a very long...

The Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE), in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), is currently investigating a human case of plague based on preliminary test results. The plague bacterium, known as Yersinia pestis, can be transmitted by fleas and wild rodents, such as prairie dogs, squirrels, rats, and rabbits. According to the CDC, “Humans usually become infected through the bite of an infected rodent flea or by handling an infected animal. Plague can be cured with antibiotics, but these must be given promptly to prevent serious illness or death.” Symptoms of plague...

Chicago health officials have announced that a "small number" of tuberculosis (TB) cases have been reported at some migrant facilities following a recent outbreak of measles among migrants living in the Windy City's shelters. The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) said the TB cases were reported in "a few different shelters" in the city. However, officials did not disclose the exact number of confirmed cases or which shelter locations they originated from, Fox 32 Chicago reports.

Scientists may have uncovered what is the largest mass burial site in Europe. The site in Nuremberg, Germany, contains the bodies of at least 1,000 people who died of the bubonic plague, which killed up to 60 per cent of Europe's population. Described as a 'nationally significant' discovery, experts think the bodies were buried at the first half of 17th century following a ruthless wave of the disease. The bubonic plague is spread by the bite of a flea that's been infected with a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. Those afflicted died quickly and horribly following a bout of high fever,...

A resident in Oregon has been infected with the state's first instance of bubonic plague since 2015, according to Fox News Digital. The report noted that the individual was likely infected with the plague by their pet cat. Dr. Richard Fawcett, the Deschutes County health officer, said in a recent release that "[a]ll close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and provided medication to prevent illness." Officials familiar with the situation said there was little chance that the infection could present an issue for the community since it was treated in the earlier stages of the...

An Oregon resident has been infected with the state’s first case of bubonic plague since 2015, health officials said last week. The resident was likely infected with plague by their symptomatic pet cat, Deschutes County Health Services said in a news release on Wednesday. "All close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and provided medication to prevent illness," Dr. Richard Fawcett, the Deschutes County health officer, said in the release without identifying the infected resident. Officials said there was little risk to the community since the case was identified and treated in the earlier stages of...

Los Angeles isn’t the city of angels: it’s the city of rats. Last year, LA shot up in the rankings of the “rattiest cities” from third to second place, and it’s closing in fast on Chicago. What is its secret? There is the fetid filth of the junkie vagrant camps where typhus, a medieval disease spread by rats, made a comeback almost as fast as crime once city officials legalized the ‘homeless’ trifecta of street living, drug use and shoplifting. And like criminals and junkies, the rats have Democrats on their side. In the fall of last year, Gov. Newsom...

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual confab in Davos, Switzerland is set to kick off next week, and the program is rife with all of the usual suspects. Our aspiring global rulers are set to have a grand time once more calling for our collective enslavement, which of course is necessary for the “greater good.” The 2024 program is one for the ages. Attendees will watch Pfizer’s Albert Bourla and Open AI’s Sam Altman talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI). They’ll see depopulation advocate Bill “Bugman” Gates advancing the climate hoax. John Kerry will appear on four different stages to discuss...

The Black Death’s reign of terror lasted for more than 400 years. By culling up to 50% of the population of Europe, the Great Plague guaranteed its place in the history books. Yet while accounts of the Black Death have focused graphically on those who died, the stories of those who survived have gone untold. Until now. The Riddle of the Plague Survivors focuses on those who walked away unaffected. Could this village be the first example of quarantining to avoid disease? How could anyone survive in the face of what is described as one of the most pathogenic bacterial...

Black women of African descent were more likely to die of the medieval plague in London, academics at the Museum of London have found. The study is the first archaeological exploration showing how racism influenced a person's risk of death during what was known as the Great Pestilence or Great Mortality. The research is based on 145 individuals from three cemeteries. The outbreak is believed to have claimed the lives of 35,000 Londoners. Data on bone and dental changes of the 145 individuals from East Smithfield emergency plague cemetery, St Mary Graces and St Mary Spital formed the basis of...