All plague articles
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NewsWHO reports latest global trends in cholera, meningitis and plague
Cholera deaths increased by 30% in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2025, 47 countries reported 451 499 cholera cases and 7870 deaths to WHO, the highest number of annual cholera deaths reported to WHO since 1999.
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NewsOne Health model links spillover, microbiomes and governance to global risk
Global health risks continue to emerge where people, animals and the environment meet. A new review highlights that managing these threats requires more than reacting to individual outbreaks: health systems need to monitor the biological, ecological and institutional conditions that allow risks to build.
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NewsNew study uncovers the complex history of the plague after the Black Death
A new study sheds fresh light on the long and complex history of the plague by analysing the DNA of the bacterium. Researchers reconstructed 26 genomes of Yersinia pestis from archaeological sites in Estonia, Russia, England, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
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NewsGenetics: Oldest-known evidence of plague outbreaks in prehistoric communities
Plague outbreaks dating back to around 5,500 years ago documented in hunter-gatherer communities from southeast Siberia are described in a paper. The findings, based on an analysis of ancient DNA, may be the oldest known evidence of the plague and could shed light on its origins.
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NewsHow did Bronze Age plague spread? Ancient sheep might solve the mystery
Researchers have found the first evidence of a Bronze Age plague infection in a non-human host. The scientists discovered Y. pestis DNA in a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep from Arkaim, a fortified settlement located in the Southern Ural Mountains of present-day Russia.
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NewsMyths about rapid spread of the Black Death influenced by single ‘literary tale’, experts show
Modern portrayals of the Black Death quickly moving across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, following the course of traders, have been incorrect because of centuries of misinterpretation of a rhyming fourteenth-century literary tale, experts have found.
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NewsPlague transmission may have begun a century before the Black Death, study shows
Evidence from 13th-century chroniclers and physicians indicates plague may have been involved in epidemics a century before the Black Death, a new study shows. Source: Dschingis Khan und seine Erben (exhibition catalogue), München 2005, p. 253 Conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols 1258. Right part of a double-page ...
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NewsThe plague may have caused the downfall of the Stone Age farmers
Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe’s populations long before the major plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages.
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NewsBody lice may be bigger plague spreaders than previously thought
A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they may have contributed to past pandemics.
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NewsScientists ID risks of human flea infestations in plague-endemic areas of Madagascar
The abundance of human fleas in Madagascar is primarily associated with households that have a traditional dirt floor covered by a plant-fiber mat, as opposed to households with cement or board floors, a study finds.
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NewsResearchers unmask an old foe’s tricks to thwart new diseases
Researchers are studying Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic and pneumonic plague, to better understand its ability to evade the immune system and apply that understanding to control other pathogens.
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News4,000-year-old plague DNA found – the oldest cases to date in Britain
Researchers have identified three 4,000-year-old British cases of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria causing the plague – the oldest evidence of the plague in Britain to date.
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NewsResearchers develop world’s first mRNA vaccine for deadly bacteria
A team of researchers has developed an mRNA-based vaccine that is 100% effective against a type of bacteria that is lethal to humans.
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NewsResearchers scour more than 600 genome sequences in quest for origins of Black Death
Researchers seeking to better understand the origins and movement of bubonic plague have completed a painstaking granular examination of hundreds of modern and ancient genome sequences, the largest analysis of its kind.
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NewsStudy reveals how plague spreads through wild rodent populations
Mathematical modeling reveals how fleas with early-stage Yersinia pestis infections are insufficient to drive epizootic outbreaks but can help promote a low level of enzootic plague.