Ancient DNA provides evidence of earliest known plague outbreak (opens original article in a new tab)

Ancient DNA analysis reveals the earliest known plague outbreak occurred 5,500 years ago in Siberian hunter-gatherer communities, with children disproportionately affected.

• Ancient DNA from Siberian cemeteries shows plague outbreak 5,500 years ago
• Children made up at least two-thirds of the dead in some cemeteries
• Yersinia pestis bacteria caused pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic plague forms