(CNN) Plague outbreaks in London spread four times faster in the 17th century than they did in the 14th century, researchers have estimated after studying troves of wills and death records. is still around today -- cases have been recorded in Plague, one of the deadliest bacterial infections in human history, caused an estimated 50 million deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages when it was known as the Black Death. The disease, though rare and now treatable with antibiotics,is still around today -- cases have been recorded in China and the United States as recently as this year. There was a "striking acceleration" in plague transmission between the Black Death of 1348 and the Great Plague of 1665, researchers said in findings published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. Researchers studied documents, including parish records, like this parish register from 1665, to understand how the disease spread.

Source: CNN October 19, 2020 18:40 UTC