The genomic record of plagues uncovers hidden pages of the human story. They also show humanity was interconnected in many more ways than anyone has thought possible—a pertinent reminder for our times.
Every infection leaves a trace. The traces we notice at the moment are social, as we move away from each other and try to step back to avoid the touch of COVID-19. But some traces are physical, deeply imprinted in the antibodies and genetic histories we carry around in our bodies. And they remain, sometimes long after we have gone.
Genomic sequencing is what makes this possible. This process identifies the particular string of molecules that constitutes the genetic code of every living organism and that distinguishes it from every other. Complex organisms, like humans and plague bacteria, have DNA, which we visualize as a double helix of two strands of molecules bonded to each other in pairs. COVID-19 is a virus, a much simpler organism.
The European practice of plague burial in the Middle Ages supplies us with a huge archive in which to dig. One of the best is the plague cemetery in East Smithfield, London. When between a third and a half of the city's residents died in the plague of 1348, the bishop of London needed a place to dispose of the corpses. He hallowed a patch of ground to the east of the Tower of London and buried them there.
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