古屍曝出驚人祕密 黑死病DNA仍存在?
從中世紀倫敦瘟疫受害者的屍骨上提取出的DNA揭示了一個震驚世人的消息—黑死病現在仍然存在。
Bodies of victims show that part of the same sequence of genes still exists, hundreds of years later.
也就是說，這些受害者的屍體上發現的基因，百年之後依舊毫無變化。
The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europe's population in just five years from 1348 to 1353.
黑死病在1348年到1353年這短短的五年時間裏奪去了歐洲大陸近三分之一的人口。
Filthy living conditions in 14th Britain have been blamed for allowing the Black Death to spread. It remains one of the most destructive pandemics in history which peaked in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Experts say it reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million to almost 350 million in 1400. In 1603 the killer plague returned and killed 38,000 Londoners.
14世紀英國惡劣的居住環境被認爲是造成黑死病傳播的主要原因。它是史上破壞性最大的流行病之一，在1348到1350年之間的歐洲達到頂峯。專家稱黑死病導致世界人口從四億五千萬左右驟降至1400年的三億五千萬。在1603年，黑死病又捲土重來並且奪去了三萬八千倫敦人的性命。
Scientists have now confirmed that Yersinia pestis which is known to cause cases of the plague today was also responsible for the brutally damaging bubonic plague which almost wiped out Europe.
經科學家證實，曾經引起瘟疫的耶爾森使鼠疫桿菌也是導致橫掃歐洲的黑死病的重要原因。
Previously, tests which showed presence of the bacteria in medieval samples had been ignored because it was assumed they were contaminated and because the modern day bug spreads much more slowly and is far less deadly.
早些的時候，測試已經證明在中世紀的樣品中存在着細菌被忽視的情況,意識因爲細菌被認爲受到了污染,二是因爲蟲子傳播的更爲緩慢,也並不會致命。
Now researchers at the University of Tübingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada it was responsible for deaths.
在杜賓根大學的考古學院和加拿大麥克馬司特大學的研究人員都認爲細菌應該是導致死亡的最主要的原因。
The results of the research have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
據悉，研究的結果已經刊登在《美國國家科學院院刊》上。
Report author Johannes Krause says that ‘without a doubt’ the plague pathogen known as versinia pestis was also the cause of the Middle Ages’ plague.
研究報告的撰寫者約翰·克勞斯說,“毫無疑問的，瘟疫病原體，可以被稱作耶爾森使鼠疫桿菌，也是引起中世紀的瘟疫的原因。
The symptoms of the Black Death were revolting with historians noting descriptions of fever, muscle spasms, coughing up blood and black blood oozing out of swelling lymph nodes.
黑死病的症狀在歷史學家的描述下十分的噁心，像發燒,肌肉痙攣,咳血和從腫脹的淋巴結中流出黑血。
Earlier this month, rats - which were long thought to be the carriers of the plague - were ruled out as the main cause.
這個月的早些時候，一度被認爲是瘟疫載體的老鼠被排除出主要原因。
The most commonly noted symptom was the appearance of swollen lymph nodes on the groin, the neck and armpits, which often wept with pus and blood when they burst.
最常見的症狀是出現在腹股溝，頸和腋窩的淋巴結腫脹,一旦破裂，就會流膿或出血。
