Acceleration of plague outbreaks in the second pandemic

Significance Epidemics of plague devastated Europe’s population throughout the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Genetic studies of modest numbers of skeletal remains indicate that the causative agent of all these epidemics was the bacterium Yersinia pestis , but such analyses cannot identify overall patterns of transmission dynamics. Analysis of thousands of archival records from London, United Kingdom, reveals that plague epidemics spread much faster in the 17th century than in the 14th century.

Acceleration of plague outbreaks in the second pandemic Journal Articles