CNN —A team of researchers excavating mass burial sites in England have detected the DNA of the bacteria that caused the plague in human skeletal remains — and they are the oldest known cases of the disease in Great Britain. The bacterial DNA is thousands of years more ancient than the oldest strain uncovered prior to this latest finding. When it comes to the disease, there is a lot that scientists still don’t know — including how it spread, Swali said. And science may never truly know the severity of the plague 4,000 years ago when it came to humans, Roberts said. And while there are historical records of plague outbreaks, ancient DNA could potentially give us a look even further back, Swali said.

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Persons: CNN —, Pooja Swali, Francis Crick, Swali, ”, Benjamin Roberts, ” Swali, Lee Mordechai, pestis, Roberts, ” Roberts, paleogeneticists, Mordechai, ” Mordechai Organizations: CNN, Nature Communications, Francis, Francis Crick Institute, Durham University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Locations: England, Great Britain, Cambridgeshire, London, Somerset, Cumbria, Scotland, United Kingdom, Britain, Europe