Published: August 8, 2025
A groundbreaking international study involving researchers from the University of Gothenburg has mapped the history of infectious diseases in humans over the last 37,000 years. Using ancient DNA from more than 1,300 prehistoric individuals across Eurasia, the study identified 214 pathogens, offering critical insight into how human health was transformed by the transition to agriculture and animal domestication.
The study, published in the prestigious journal Nature, presents the oldest known evidence of zoonotic diseases — illnesses that transfer from animals to humans — dating back 6,500 years. It also reports the world’s oldest genetic traces of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, found in a 5,500-year-old burial near Lake Baikal.
Researchers Karl-Göran Sjögren and Kristian Kristiansen from the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg contributed to the project, which was led by Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen.
“This marks a new era in our understanding of disease evolution,” said Sjögren. “The close relationship between humans and domestic animals played a major role in the spread of infectious diseases.”
The findings not only reveal how ancient diseases shaped human societies through migration, collapse, and genetic adaptation, but also offer a foundation for developing future vaccines by understanding past mutations and pathogen behaviors.
Source: University of Gothenburg
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