{"id":147565,"date":"2025-09-10T22:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147565\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T22:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:44:09","slug":"scientists-rewrite-the-origins-of-the-worlds-first-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147565\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Rewrite the Origins of the World\u2019s First Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Virus<\/a>Researchers have finally identified genetic traces of the plague bacterium at the heart of the Byzantine Empire, providing long-sought proof of the microbe behind history\u2019s first pandemic. Credit: Stock<\/p>\n

USF and FAU researchers identify bacterium behind 1,500-year-old pandemic mystery.<\/p>\n

For the first time, scientists have obtained direct genomic evidence of the bacterium responsible for the Plague of Justinian, the earliest known pandemic in recorded history. The outbreak, which struck the Eastern Mediterranean nearly 1,500 years ago, has now been firmly tied to Yersinia pestis, the pathogen that causes plague.<\/p>\n

An international team led by researchers at the University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University, working with partners in India and Australia, identified Y. pestis in human remains from a mass grave at the ancient city of Jerash in Jordan, close to the heart of the pandemic. This pivotal discovery confirms the bacterium\u2019s role in the Justinian Plague (AD 541\u2013750), resolving a mystery that has lingered for centuries.<\/p>\n

\"Rays<\/a>Rays Jiang, PhD, University of South Florida. Credit: USF Health
\nFilling historical gaps with genetic proof<\/p>\n

For hundreds of years, scholars debated the origins of the catastrophic outbreak that killed tens of millions, reshaped the Byzantine Empire, and altered the trajectory of Western history. Although written accounts hinted at plague, no biological proof had been available, leaving a critical gap in the narrative of pandemics.<\/p>\n

Now, two newly released papers led by USF and FAU provide that missing proof, offering fresh insight into one of humanity\u2019s most transformative health crises. The findings also highlight plague\u2019s continued presence today: although uncommon, Y. pestis still circulates globally. In July, a resident of northern Arizona died from pneumonic plague, the deadliest form of the disease and the first U.S. fatality since 2007, followed just a week later by a confirmed case in California.<\/p>\n

\"USF<\/a>Tooth from the Jerash architectural site. Credit: University of South Florida<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery provides the long-sought definitive proof of Y. pestis at the epicenter of the Plague of Justinian,\u201d said Rays H. Y. Jiang, PhD, lead PI of the studies and associate professor with the USF College of Public Health. \u201cFor centuries, we\u2019ve relied on written accounts describing a devastating disease, but lacked any hard biological evidence of plague\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidence of widespread mortality<\/p>\n

The Plague of Justinian was first documented in Pelusium (modern-day Tell el-Farama) in Egypt, before sweeping across the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. Although remnants of Y. pestis had been detected in small villages in western Europe thousands of miles away, no genetic evidence had ever been uncovered within the empire itself or close to the pandemic\u2019s center.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing targeted ancient DNA techniques, we successfully recovered and sequenced genetic material from eight human teeth excavated from burial chambers beneath the former Roman hippodrome in Jerash, a city just 200 miles from ancient Pelusium,\u201d said Greg O\u2019Corry-Crowe, PhD, co-author and a research professor at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and a National Geographic Explorer.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Ancient DNA lab at Florida Atlantic University. Credit: FAU<\/p>\n

The arena had been repurposed as a mass grave during the mid-sixth to early seventh century, when written accounts describe a sudden wave of mortality.<\/p>\n

Genomic analysis revealed that the plague victims carried nearly identical strains of Y. pestis, confirming for the first time that the bacterium was present within the Byzantine Empire between AD 550-660. That genetic uniformity suggests a rapid, devastating outbreak consistent with historical descriptions of a plague causing mass death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jerash site offers a rare glimpse of how ancient societies responded to public health disasters,\u201d said Jiang. \u201cJerash was one of the key cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, a documented trade hub with magnificent structures. That a venue once built for entertainment and civic pride became a mass cemetery in a time of emergency shows how urban centers were very likely overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broader evolutionary patterns<\/p>\n

A companion study<\/a>, also led by USF and FAU, places the Jerash discovery into a wider evolutionary context. By analyzing hundreds of ancient and modern Y. pestis genomes \u2014 including those newly recovered from Jerash \u2014 the researchers showed that the bacteria had been circulating among human populations for millennia before the Justinian outbreak.<\/p>\n

The team also found that later plague pandemics, from the Black Death of the 14th century to cases still appearing today, did not descend from a single ancestral strain. Instead, they arose independently and repeatedly from longstanding animal reservoirs, erupting in multiple waves across different regions and eras. This repeated pattern stands in stark contrast to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19), which originated from a single spillover event and evolved primarily through human-to-human transmission.<\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/a>Greg O\u2019Corry-Crowe, PhD, Florida Atlantic University. Credit: G. Divoky<\/p>\n

Together, the landmark findings reshape the understanding of how pandemics emerge, recur and spread, and why they remain a persistent feature of human civilization. The research underscores that pandemics are not singular historical catastrophes, but repeating biological events driven by human congregation, mobility and environmental change \u2014 themes that remain relevant today.<\/p>\n

Shared humanity across pandemics<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research was both scientifically compelling and personally resonant. It offered an extraordinary opportunity to delve into the study of human history through the lens of ancient DNA at a time when we ourselves were living through a global pandemic,\u201d said O\u2019Corry-Crowe. \u201cEqually profound was the experience of working with ancient human remains \u2014 individuals who lived, suffered, and died centuries ago \u2014 and using modern science to help recover and share their stories. It\u2019s a humbling reminder of our shared humanity across time and a moving testament to the power of science to give voice to those long silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USF<\/a>A researcher holds a Jerash tooth used to help identify the origin of the first plague. Credit: Greg O\u2019Corry FAU<\/p>\n

While very different from COVID-19, both diseases highlight the enduring link between connectivity and pandemic risk, as well as the reality that some pathogens can never be fully eradicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been wrestling with plague for a few thousand years, and people still die from it today,\u201d Jiang said. \u201cLike COVID, it continues to evolve, and containment measures evidently can\u2019t get rid of it. We have to be careful, but the threat will never go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building on the Jerash breakthrough, the team is now expanding its research to Venice, Italy, and the Lazaretto Vecchio, a dedicated quarantine island and one of the world\u2019s most significant plague burial sites. More than 1,200 samples from this Black Death-era mass grave are now housed at USF, offering an unprecedented opportunity to study how early public health measures intersected with pathogen evolution, urban vulnerability, and cultural memory.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cGenetic Evidence of Yersinia pestis from the First Pandemic\u201d by Swamy R. Adapa, Karen Hendrix, Aditya Upadhyay, Subhajeet Dutta, Andrea Vianello, Gregory O\u2019Corry-Crowe, Jorge Monroy, Tatiana Ferrer, Elizabeth Remily-Wood, Gloria C. Ferreira, Michael Decker, Robert H. Tykot, Sucheta Tripathy and Rays H. Y. Jiang, 31 July 2025, Genes.
DOI: 10.3390\/genes16080926<\/a><\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have finally identified genetic traces of the plague bacterium at the heart of the Byzantine Empire, providing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[18380,1155,200,9171,8871,79,59209],"class_list":["post-147565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-archaeology","tag-dna","tag-genetics","tag-genomics","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-science","tag-university-of-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}