Metagenomic Screening of ancient DNA from a Late Medieval mass burial site in Lübeck, Northern Germany, revealed occurence of S. Paratyphi C.

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, European settlements of all sizes were repeatedly affected by outbreaks of infectious diseases. A Late Medieval mass-burial site next to the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (HGH) in Lübeck, a city of the Hanseatic League, contained the skeletal remains of more than 800 individuals assumed to have died of an infectious disease, most probably of the plague. Metagenomic screening on ancient DNA extracts revealed evidence of an infection with Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C, suggesting an epidemic outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever. Based on radiocarbon dates, we determined the enteric paratyphoid fever outbreak in Lübeck to have occurred between 1360 and 1400 CE, historical records indicating the year 1367 CE as the most probable date