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A 3,700-Year-Old Virus Hiding in a Medieval Book Just Killed 500,000 Animals
yahoo.com • • health
Key Points:
- Researchers analyzed ancient and medieval parchment and Bronze Age sheep teeth, discovering DNA of the sheeppox virus, tracing its evolution back at least 3,700 years.
- Sheeppox, a highly infectious virus related to human smallpox, caused devastating losses in sheep herds historically and continues to impact livestock today, as seen in a recent outbreak in Greece.
- The virus likely originated among pastoral peoples in the Caucasian and Eastern European steppes, spreading through trade and contact between herds across regions.
- Medieval European societies often misattributed sheeppox outbreaks to witchcraft, but genetic evidence preserved in parchment from religious manuscripts reveals the true microbial cause.
- The study highlights the historical burden of livestock diseases on pastoral communities and provides molecular insights into sheeppox’s impact from the Bronze Age through medieval times.
