The Washington Post
After 8 centuries, rats
exonerated in spread of Black
Death. Gerbils implicated.
By Sarah Kaplan Fet
After nearly eight centuries of accusing the black rat for spreading the bubonic plague,
scientists say they have compelling evidence to exonerate the much-maligned rodent. In
the process, they’
> identified a new culprit: gerbils.
It's always the cute ones you have to watch out for, isn’t it?
According to a published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, climate data dating back to the 14th century contradicts the commonly held
notion that European plague outbreaks were caused by a reservoir of disease-carrying
fleas hosted by the continent's rat population.
“For this, you would need warm summers, with not too much precipitation,” Nils
Christian Stenseth, an author of the study, And we have looked at the
broad spectrum of climatic indices, and there is no relationship between the appearance of
plague and the weather.”
Instead, the fearsome “Black Death,” as the epidemic was known, seemed curiously tied to
the climate in Asia. Analysis of 15 tree-ring records, which document yearly weather
conditions, shows that Europe always experienced plague outbreaks after central Asia hadane. A — :
a Wet spring followed by a warm summer — terrible conditions for black rats, but ideal for
Asia’s gerbil population. Those sneaky rodents and their bacteria-ridden fleas then
hitched a ride to Europe via the Silk Road, arriving on the continent a few years later to
wreak epidemiological havoc.
‘The findings absolve Europe’s black rats of responsibility for the deaths of more than 100
million people in the “second plague pandemic,” which began with the Black Death in the
mid-14th century and recurred until the 1800s. They also explain why the disease popped
up intermittently century after century, rather than lingering on the continent as long as
rats were around to carry it.
This isn’t the first time scientists have challenged a popular understanding of the disease.
Last year, researchers examining plague DNA found in 25 14th-century skeletons
they found evidence that the disease was airborne rather than distributed via flea
bites.
So Stenseth says his team will fact-check their findings by analyzing DNA from a variety of
ancient European skeletons. If the samples show significant genetic variation across time,
that would indicate successive outbreaks were caused by newly arrived waves of the
disease rather than a resurgence from the continent's rat reservoir.
“Tf we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history,” Stenseth said.
And hundreds of elementary school classrooms will have to rethink their class pet.
rom Morning Mix
Rare photos from the golden age of space exploration
How 19 frightened manatees were rescued from a drainpipe in Fla.
How Stephen Hawking, diagnosed with ALS decades ago, is still alive
vicia Arquette to shreds