• Black Death: Can the secrets of London's plague pits help fight modern diseases?

    Almost seven centuries ago, London was devastated by an apocalyptic plague that swept across Asia and continental Europe. Today, scientists are cracking the genome code for the disease using human teeth from skeletons excavated in the city.

    By Jim Maceda, NBC News

    LONDON -- They were the final resting place for victims of the Black Death, but London’s underground medieval plague pits are now unlocking the secrets of modern-day infectious diseases.

    The bodies of tens of thousands of Londoners were thrown into communal graves after one of the most devastating epidemics in human history swept through Europe in the 14th century.

    Between 1348 and 1351, the Black Death -- or bubonic plague -- killed up to three in five people as it spread rapidly through pre-industrial cities, unchecked by sanitation or modern medicine. That, and subsequent waves of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, claimed the lives of tens of millions of Europeans.

    WHO map: Spread of bubonic plague in Europe

    Direct descendants of the same plague still exist, killing about 2,000 people each year – although they are often now treatable with antibiotics.

    Earlier this month, a 7-year-old girl contracted a genetic variant of Black Death at a campground in Colorado.

    A Colorado girl who survived the bubonic plague is happy to be out of the hospital. KUSA's Cheryl Preheim reports.

    The girl, who was treated for the illness in a Denver hospital, is thought to have caught the disease in the same way as her medieval ancestors - from fleas living on rodent carcasses.

    Next month, a conference of forensic scientists will hear how an international team of experts - led by researchers based at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and the University of Tubingen in Germany - sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death using DNA extracted from plague victims.

    The team used DNA from bodies buried at pits including one at East Smithfield, now underneath the heart of central London.

    It is the first time an ancient disease has been reconstructed, providing clues as to how it has evolved and whether it could strike again in future.

    The scientists hope their work heralds a new era of research into infectious disease.

    Additional reporting by Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

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  • 'Fortunate to be alive': Girl, 7, contracts bubonic plague at Colorado campground

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    DENVER -- A seven-year-old girl is recovering at a Denver hospital from a rare case of bubonic plague she likely contracted from fleas from a dead squirrel at a southwestern Colorado campground, hospital officials said on Wednesday.

    Sierra Jane Downing is "fortunate to be alive," but is on the road to recovery after her near-fatal bout with the disease, the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children said in a statement.

    It is the first confirmed case of bubonic plague in Colorado since 2006, the hospital said.

    Sierra's father Sean Downing described how his daughter had a seizure and stopped breathing for a couple of minutes.

    "I thought she died, and I was just running for the ER," he said.

    Read the story on local NBC station 9NEWS.com

    At first, Sierra's parents -- and even Sierra herself -- thought the illness was a flu. "She told me, 'Mommy, this is just the flu. Can't we go home?'" Darcy Downing said.

    Jack Dempsey / AP

    Seven-year-old Sierra Jane Downing watches while her father Sean Downing and mother Darcy Downing talk about her recovery from the bubonic plague at the Presbyterian/St. Luke's Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children on Wednesday. It is believed Downing caught the bubonic plague from a dead squirrel.

    Bacteria that cause bubonic plague are carried by rodents and can be transmitted to humans through parasitic fleas or the handling of infected animals.

    The plague is believed to have killed 25 million Europeans during the Middle Ages, when it was known as the Black Death.

    Today, the disease is treated with antibiotics, and seven U.S. cases a year are reported on average, most of them in the western states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

    Tried to bury dead squirrel
    Sierra was at an outing with her family in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, last month when she came across a dead squirrel that she tried to bury, hospital spokeswoman Angie Anania said.

    "She never touched the squirrel, but laid her jacket next to the dead squirrel, and the fleas looking for a new host might have jumped onto the jacket," Anania told Reuters.

    The girl tied the jacket around her waist, and doctors discovered bites on her torso, which led them to believe the plague came from the squirrel encounter, Anania said.

    Sierra was taken by her parents to a Pagosa Springs hospital on Aug. 24 suffering from a high fever and seizures. She was later flown to the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, which has facilities and pediatric specialists better equipped to care for gravely ill children.

    Jack Dempsey / AP

    Jennifer Snow, MD, pediatric intensivist in the pediatric intensive care unit talks to media about seven-year-old Sierra Jane Downing's recovery from the bubonic plague at the Presbyterian/St. Luke's Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children on Wednesday.

    The girl's temperature reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit, and doctors detected swollen lymph nodes in her groin after she complained of severe leg pain, said Dr. Jennifer Snow, the pediatrician who treated her in Denver.

    Once the diagnosis was made, Sierra was placed on a special antibiotic regimen. She may be discharged in a week, the hospital said.

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