The Impact of the Second Plague Pandemic on Oral Microbes and Modern Chronic Diseases: A Groundbreaking Study

2024-01-20 17:19:00
A study conducted by a group of researchers concluded that the second plague pandemic may have affected the evolution of oral microbes that contribute to chronic diseases in the modern era.

The mid-fourteenth century witnessed a devastating event, known as the “Black Death” or the Second Plague pandemic, which killed between 30 and 60% of Europe’s population, dramatically changing the course of European history.

Recent research, conducted by teams from Penn State and the University of Adelaide, suggests that this epidemic may have fortuitously affected the human oral microbiome. Changes in diet and hygiene practices in the wake of the plague may have led to a shift in the oral microbiome that contributes to chronic disease 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 revealing the origins of these microbial communities may 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 direct examination of the oral microbiota preserved within the calcified teeth of deceased persons.”

In the largest study to date of ancient teeth, Weirich and her colleagues collected material from the teeth of 235 people buried at 27 archaeological sites in Britain and Scotland from regarding 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, and that they fell within two distinct communities of bacteria, one dominated by the genus “Streptococcus,” which is common in the oral microbiome of modern industrialized peoples, and the other dominated by the genus “Streptococcus.” Methanobrevibacter” is now considered largely extinct in healthy industrialized populations.

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