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Trending in Norway · Health · Last observed Jun 25, 2026
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Recent discoveries reveal that plague outbreaks affected hunter-gatherer populations over 5,000 years ago, redefining our understanding of early epidemics.
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Research has uncovered that lethal plague outbreaks occurred among hunter-gatherer communities near Lake Baikal around 5,500 years ago, pushing back the timeline for the earliest known epidemic events caused by Yersinia pestis. Studies detail immune system evasion by the bacteria and genetic links between strains in animals and humans.
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Smithsonian Magazine
New Discovery That Hunter-Gatherer Children Died of Plague More Than Five Millennia Ago Sets Back the Date of the Earliest Outbreak - Smithsonian MagazineNew Discovery That Hunter-Gatherer Children Died of Plague More Than Five Millennia Ago Sets Back the Date of the Earliest Outbreak Smithsonian Magazine
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