Paleoclimate and bubonic plague: A forewarning of future risk?

Anthony J. McMichael

doi:10.1186/1741-7007-8-108

Paleoclimate and bubonic plague: A forewarning of future risk?

Anthony J. McMichael^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Pandemics of bubonic plague have occurred in Eurasia since the sixth century ad. Climatic variations in Central Asia affect the population size and activity of the plague bacteriums reservoir rodent species, influencing the probability of human infection. Using innovative time-series analysis of surrogate climate records spanning 1,500 years, a study in BMC Biology concludes that climatic fluctuations may have influenced these pandemics. This has potential implications for health risks from future climate change.

Original language	English
Article number	108
Journal	BMC Biology
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-8-108
Publication status	Published - 27 Aug 2010

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AB - Pandemics of bubonic plague have occurred in Eurasia since the sixth century ad. Climatic variations in Central Asia affect the population size and activity of the plague bacteriums reservoir rodent species, influencing the probability of human infection. Using innovative time-series analysis of surrogate climate records spanning 1,500 years, a study in BMC Biology concludes that climatic fluctuations may have influenced these pandemics. This has potential implications for health risks from future climate change.

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Paleoclimate and bubonic plague: A forewarning of future risk?

Abstract

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