A study by a group of researchers concluded that the second plague pandemic may have influenced the evolution of oral microbes that contribute to chronic diseases in the modern era.
The mid-14th century witnessed a devastating event, known as the “Black Death” or second plague pandemic, which killed between 30 and 60% of the European population, radically changing the course of European history.
Recent research, conducted by teams at Penn State and the University of Adelaide, suggests that this epidemic may have serendipitously affected the human oral microbiome. Changes in diet and hygiene practices following the plague may have led to a change in the oral microbiome. that contributes to chronic diseases in humans in the modern era, according to a study published on the “Science Tech Daily” website.
“Modern microbiomes are associated with a wide range of chronic diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and poor mental health, and uncovering the origins of these microbial communities can help understand and manage these diseases,” said Laura Weyrich, assistant professor of anthropology at Penn State University: “The most accurate and ethically responsible method is the direct examination of the oral microbiota preserved in the calcified teeth of deceased people.”
In the largest study to date of ancient teeth, Weirich and his colleagues collected material from the teeth of 235 people buried at 27 archaeological sites in Britain and Scotland from around 2200 BC to 1853.
The researchers processed the samples in a highly sterile ancient DNA laboratory, to reduce contamination, and identified 954 species of microbes, which fell into two distinct communities of bacteria, one dominated by the genus “Streptococcus,” common in oral flora. microbiome of modern industrialized populations, and the other dominated by the genus “Streptococcus”. Methanobrevibacter” is now considered largely extinct in healthy industrialized populations.
2024-01-20 17:19:00
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