Tag Archives: Lübeck

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C at Lübeck – an outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever in 1367?

Excavation in the 1990s at Lübeck Heilig-Geist spital revealed a mass burial with more than 800 individuals dated to the 14th c.  New research screened aDNA from 92 individuals for the presence of pathogens. The analysis resulted in a detection of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C.

These results show once more the complexity of the 14th c crisis, which can not be reduced on the BlackDeath.

  • M. Haller/K. Callan/J. Susat u. a., Mass burial genomics  reveals outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever in the Late Medieval trade city Lübeck. iScience 24, 5, 2021, 102419. – doi 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102419

A German press report at

Rainer Schreg

archaeologist professor in medieval and postmedieval archaeology at Bamberg university

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