Most recently scientists become successful to recreate a genetic code of a germ that is suspected to cause the Black Death in the 14th century. Scientists collected that germ from the teeth of the corpses that were found in a graveyard in London. According to the scientists this is the germ that is actually the predecessor of the plagues at modern time.
According to them Black Death that broke out in a huge form in 14th century was also a type of plague that was carried out by flies. The bacterium called Yersinia pestis was the cause behind the Black death. It out broke between 1347 to 1351 and kill nearly 50 million people.
Professor Johannes Krause of the University of Tubingen in Germany said that all the strains that are found at present world are somehow correlated to the bacterium.
Before the study researchers thought that the Black Death was a similar kind of plague to the plagues that broke out in the ancient Greece and Rome. The plague that broke out in Greece and Rome in the 6th century is called the Justinian Plague. It killed 100 million people approximately. But the study has proved them wrong. It has proved that the agent that caused the Justinian Plague in ancient Greece and Rome was completely different from the agent of Black Death of 14th century.
The scientists suggested that the agent of the Black Death might be the Yersinia Pestis or some other bacterium. The scientists have mentioned that the Yersinia pestis has no closer relative in the modern day world. They have also mentioned that if the Black Death of the 14th century was not caused by the Yersinia pestis then the agent has not yet been discovered surely. Professor Krause also agrees to the view.