Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago
Ruairidh Macleod; Frederik Valeur Seersholm; Bianca De Sanctis; Angela R. Lieverse; Adrian Timpson; Rick J. Schulting; Jesper T. Stenderup; Charleen Gaunitz · 2026 · Nature
WASTE classifies this as Negative / Null Result Report · AI classification, approximate
The study found no significant effect — useful as a negative control or null benchmark for your own design.
Abstract
Abstract Plague is among the most devastating diseases in human history 1 . However, early strains of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis lacked virulence factors that are required for the bubonic form until around 3,800 years ago 2,3 . Consequently, the morbidity and mortality of early plague strains remain unclear. Here we describe early plague strains that are associated with two phases of outbreaks among mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers near Lake Baikal in southeast Siberia, beginning from about 5,500 years ago. These outbreaks occur across four hunter-gatherer cemeteries, with a 39%
Abstract by Ruairidh Macleod; Frederik Valeur Seersholm; Bianca De Sanctis; Angela R. Lieverse; Adrian Timpson; Rick J. Schulting; Jesper T. Stenderup; Charleen Gaunitz, Nature (2026) — licensed CC BY 4.0.
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Metadata source: OpenAlex · DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10540-5