Scientists have long debated whether human body lice might have helped drive the rapid spread of the bacteria responsible for the deadly plague in the Middle Ages, known as the Black Death. It’s clear ...

A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they ...

Scientists have long debated whether human body lice might have helped drive the rapid spread of the bacteria responsible for the deadly plague in the Middle Ages, known as the Black Death. It’s clear ...

A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they ...

Rats and their fleas take the rap for spreading the plague, but lice that infest people may share the blame. Human body lice can harbor plague-causing bacteria and can transmit the disease by biting, ...

The plague — which in the mid-14th century was also known as the Black Death — devastated swaths of Europe, killing millions in under a decade. One of the puzzles surrounding this ancient pandemic was ...