These two ancestral Y. pestis genomes were identified from a Swedish individual with Neolithic Farmer (that is, Anatolian-derived) ancestry (5035–4856 cal. bp)4 and an individual from Latvia with hunter-gatherer ancestry (5300–5050 cal. bp)10, respectively. Although these genomes are of very similar age and ancestral to all other plague genomes available, the two studies arrive at different conclusions: Rascovan et al. argue that their finding supports a role of plague in the Neolithic decline whereas Susat et al. conclude that these early plague forms are probably a result of sporadic zoonotic events.

Time to check on the mooFlu in the US.