**3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy Finds Traces of Bubonic Plague: Historic Revelation**
In a dramatic archaeological discovery, researchers have recently identified an Egyptian mummy more than 3,000 years old as a potential victim of the bubonic plague, also known as the “Black Death.” The fascinating discovery sheds new light on how the deadly disease spread beyond the European and Asian continents, revealing crucial molecular clues about the plague’s presence in ancient Egypt.
Experts closely examined the body, which is preserved at the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, and dates back to the Late Bronze Age, approximately 3,290 years ago. Analysis of the female mummy’s bone tissue revealed traces of the bacteria that causes bubonic plague in her DNA, suggesting that the disease was at an advanced stage by the time she died. However, it is difficult to determine whether this was an isolated case or part of a larger epidemic in the region at the time.
Bubonic plague, one of the most feared diseases in history, is spread when a human is bitten by fleas that feed on infected rodents. The microbes invade the human body, destroying the lymphatic system and causing the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits and neck to swell, forming characteristic buboes. The disease then progresses rapidly, leading to serious complications such as seizures, vomiting blood, internal bleeding and death.
Known in Europe in the 14th century as a deadly epidemic that killed an estimated 25 million people between 1347 and 1351, bubonic plague also affected other regions such as China, Mongolia and India. Previous research suggested that the disease had been present in Egypt for decades, but no concrete evidence had been found until now.
In 2004, scientists found fleas dating back thousands of years in a warehouse on the banks of the Nile, while a 3,500-year-old Egyptian medical document described a malignant pus-filled tumor, suggesting that the plague might have spread. However, it took genetic evidence to confirm the existence of the “Black Death” in ancient Egypt.
The researchers hope that this discovery will inspire other scientists to delve deeper into the transmission and pathological aspects of this Egyptian variant of the plague. This new historical perspective sheds unique light on ancient Egyptian life and disease, inviting us to look again at humanity’s distant past.