[thedoc]

The Black Death, which killed a third of Europe's population in the middle ages, was caused by a now-extinct strain of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, a new study has shown. Using DNA from 100 skeletal samples excavated from a 14th Century plague pit in London's Smithfield, an international team of researchers led by McMaster University scientist Hendrik Poinar have succeeded in reconstructing a significant part of the genetic blueprint of the bug.

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