For the first time, researchers have uncovered direct genomic evidence of the bacterium behind the Plague of Justinian -- the world's first recorded pandemic - in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the outbreak was first described nearly 1,500 years ago.
The landmark discovery, led by an interdisciplinary team at the University of South Florida and Florida atlantic University, with collaborators in India and Australia, identified Yersinia pestis, the microbe that causes plague, in a mass grave at the ancient city of Jerash, Jordan, near the pandemic's epicenter. The groundbreaking find definitively links the pathogen to the Justinian Plague marking the first pandemic (AD 541-750), resolving one of history's long-standing mysteries.
For centuries, historians have deliberated on what caused the devastating outbreak that killed tens of millions, reshaped the Byzantine Empire and altered the course of Western civilization. Despite circumstantial evidence, direct proof of the responsible microbe had remained elusive - a missing link in the story of pandemics.
Two newly published papers led by USF and FAU provide these long-sought answers,offering new insight into one of the moast consequential episodes in human history. The discovery also underscores plague's ongoing relevance today: while rare, Y. Pestis continues to circulate worldwide. In July, a resident of northern Arizona died from pneumonic plague, the most lethal form of Y. Pestis infection, marking the first such fatality in the U.S. since 2007, and just last week another individual in California tested positive for the disease.
"This discovery provides the long-sought definitive proof of Y. Pestis at the epicenter of the Plague of Justinian," said Rays H.Y. Jiang, PhD, lead PI of the studies and associate professor with the USF College of Public Health."For centuries,we've relied on written accounts describing a devastating disease,but lacked any hard biological evidence of plague's presence. our findings provide the missing piece of that puzzle, offering the first direct genetic window into how this pandemic unfolded at the heart of the empire."
The Plague of Justinian first appeared in the historical record in Pelusium (present