After years of study, researchers have concluded that there is a strong case for the plagues in Egypt really happening. The Old Testament book Exodus, which follows Moses through his freeing of Israelite slaves held by the Egyptians details an account in which several plagues were visited on the ancient capital until the slaves were freed. The scientific findings indicate that the plagues could have possibly been explained by a series of natural phenomena causing a changing climate hundreds of miles from the city.
The ancient city of Pi-Ramases, resting on the Nile Delta under the rule of Pharaoh Ramases II years after he was born in 1279 BC is said to be one of the greatest cities built in the ancient world, but even the stone Balustrades which held for hundreds of years under the weight of an empire were stained with the blood of slaves who labored to make the city possible. But the curiously abandoned city of Pi-Ramases did have some records of what may have caused the shift in population. One of these is the ancient Israelite text known as the Book of Genesis. According to Genesis, Moses -himself adopted by the Egyptian Royal family- told Ramases that if the Israelites were not freed that a series of plagues would visit the city, and when his requests to free the Israelites from bondage were denied, Moses delivered the plagues.
Professor Augusto Magini, believes that a period of favorable weather was a large contributor to the prosperity of the Egyptian empire, and when a sudden drought occurred around the time Moses arrived in Pi-Ramases, it resulted in the Nile River lowering and eventually drying to a mere trickle. And as the river conditions changed, it became favorable for a thick red colored algae known as Oscillatoria rubescens, which is known to have existed about that time. As the poisonous algae trickled down into the city, it also brought with it a plague of tadpoles which, stressed by the toxicity of the waters, gave off a hormone which caused rapid reproduction and growth. As they spread into the city, they fed on whatever they could, but as they died those cleaning the city could not clean the bodies which were hidden often in crevices and other places unreachable by humans. As their bodies decomposed, flies would have multiplied in their rotting carcasses and filled the city. Other insects would have flourished as well, including mosquitoes. And these insects could have carried with them disease, such as malaria and others which could have caused boils within the population. As this sickness ravaged the city, a slumbering volcano nearby, Thera in the Mediterranean islands of Santorini erupted, sending billions of tons of volcanic ash into the atmosphere and obscuring the sun. The volcanic ash theoretically could have combined with evaporating water to create super storms which tore through the city. Along with these storms would come an increase in humidity and thus a plague of locusts.
Excavations of Egyptian ruins indicated that the volcanic eruption of Thera did coincide with ash found in the same strata 3,500 years ago. Of course the death of the first born son was not as conclusive an explanation as the others, but increased humidity could have caused a fungus within grain stores. As the first born consumed the fungus, getting first pickings, they could have contracted a disease which subsequently killed them.