Ancient DNA suggests Vikings may have been plagued by smallpox
Some Vikings may have died from now-extinct strains of one of humankind’s deadliest pathogens: smallpox. Researchers collected DNA from viruses in the remains of northern Europeans living during the Viking Age, some of whom were likely Vikings themselves, and found that they were infected with extinct but related versions of the variola virus that causes smallpox, the team reports in the July 24 Science. The new finding pushes back the proven record of smallpox infecting people by almost 1,000 years, to the year 603.
Continue Reading https://www.sciencenews.org
Join the Discussion