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LiveScience
LiveScience
Christoph Schwaiger

Earliest evidence of humans catching disease from animals dates to 6,500 years ago

Disease infectious disease
A close-up of a human skull.

Diseases started jumping from animals to humans at least 6,500 years ago, researchers found in a new study of ancient DNA.

After analyzing ancient DNA from 1,313 prehistoric humans from Europe and Asia, researchers charted a map and timeline of human infectious disease that spans 37,000 years. Within that long history, they uncovered the earliest-known evidence of zoonotic disease — in which pathogens in animals transfer to humans — dated to 6,500 years ago.

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