A small genetic change makes the bacterium that caused the plague less fatal but possibly more transmissible, allowing for ...

A multiyear investigation pieced together ancient DNA from strains of the plague, bringing together researchers from across ...

The fleas aren’t picky ... If you were to think of the Black Death as a movie, “this is introducing a new protagonist right into that story — the body louse — which would also mean ...

Her study also suggested the Black Death was originally spread from fleas on marmots and then moved into fleas on rats and then to humans through fleabites. The "buck-toothed and fluffy" marmot ...

Rats, fleas, and a city unprepared—when the plague struck London in 1665, it killed one in five residents in less than a year.

But the Black Death was only the first devastating wave ... pestis, which spreads through the bites (and vomit) of infected fleas, history’s most devastating pandemic began when fleas jumped ...

Because it infects humans via fleas and rats, the Black Death has been mischaracterized as a “peasant’s disease” affecting only those who lived in less-than-hygienic environments.

In the 14th century, the Black Death broke out along the Silk Road ... In the U.S., the disease was first carried by fleas on rats in West Coast cities. It retreated into the interior western ...

Where and when did the Black Death originate? The question has been asked for centuries and led to heated debate among historians. Now, a group of researchers reports that it has found the answer ...