In an ancient Egyptian mummy, researchers found DNA of a disease that claimed millions of lives.

The ancient Egyptian mummy has revealed the oldest DNA of the plague found outside Eurasia. The 3,290-year-old remains belonged to a man who, by the time of his death, was already suffering from severe symptoms of the Black Death, reports IFlScience.

Bubonic plague, or the Black Death, is caused by the highly dangerous bacterium Yersinia pestis, which peaked in the 14th century, killing millions across Europe. Recently, however, scientists have started to discover Y. pestis DNA in prehistoric remains, indicating that the disease was circulating thousands of years before the European pandemic.

So far, ancient plague DNA has been found in Europe and Asia, with ancient evidence also discovered in 5,000-year-old remains in Russia.

However, by analyzing an ancient Egyptian mummy stored in Turin, Italy, a team of researchers found that the Black Death was claiming its grim toll in North Africa during the early Bronze Age.

The mummy dates back to the end of the Second Intermediate Period or the beginning of the New Kingdom. Radiocarbon analysis revealed the presence of Y. pestis DNA in bone tissues and in the contents of the intestines. This suggests that the disease had reached its later stages by the time of the Egyptian's death.

"This is the first prehistoric Y. pestis genome discovered outside Eurasia, confirming the presence of plague in Ancient Egypt," the authors of the study write.

Scientists cannot yet determine how widespread the Black Death was in Ancient Egypt, but some findings suggest that outbreaks occurred along the banks of the Nile.

For instance, about 20 years ago, archaeologists uncovered fleas while excavating an ancient village in Amarna, where workers lived who built the tomb of Tutankhamun.

It is known that fleas are carriers of bacteria, including the plague, so researchers speculate that the disease likely reached Ancient Egypt. This hypothesis is supported by an ancient medical text dating back 3,500 years, which describes a disease that "caused a bubo, and the pus hardened."

Researchers suggest that the plague could have spread through fleas living on Nile rats. From there, they could have transferred to black rats that inhabited ships, spreading the Black Death worldwide. However, these theories have so far lacked irrefutable evidence that the plague indeed existed in Ancient Egypt.

It is worth noting that the oldest mummies are not related to Egypt. When it comes to mummies, Egyptians are often the first that come to mind. However, they were not the first to discover how to preserve the dead from decay.