Recently published evidence concludes that there were no “permanent plague reservoirs in medieval Europe”. Rather, the study suggests, the plague bacterium was repeatedly reintroduced following periods of favorable climate for Asia’s native rodent populations.
Elizabeth Kolbert comments on how these findings serve as further evidence, “that climate and human health are, in significant though often roundabout ways, related. As the climate changes, this has important—and, at the same time, hard to predict—implications.”