Ancient feces provides earliest evidence of infectious disease being carried on Silk Road

An ancient latrine near a desert in north-western China has revealed the first archaeological evidence that travellers along the Silk Road were responsible for the spread of infectious diseases along huge distances of the route 2,000 years ago.

Cambridge researchers Hui-Yuan Yeh and Piers Mitchell used microscopy to study preserved faeces on ancient 'personal hygiene sticks' (used for wiping away faeces from the anus) in the latrine at what was a large Silk Road relay station on the eastern margins of the Tamrin Basin, a region that contains the Taklamakan desert. The latrine is thought to date from 111 BC (Han Dynasty) and was in use until 109 AD.

They found that eggs from four species of parasitic worm (helminths) were present: roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), tapeworm (Taenia sp.), and Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis).

Chinese liver fluke is a parasitic flatworm that causes abdominal pain, diarrhoea, jaundice and liver cancer. It requires well-watered, marshy areas to complete its life cycle. Xuanquanzhi relay station was located at the eastern end of the arid Tamrin Basin, an area that contains the fearsome Taklamakan Desert. The liver fluke could not have been endemic in this dry region.

In fact, based on the current prevalence of the Chinese liver fluke, its closest endemic area to the latrine's location in Dunhuang is around 1,500km away, and the species is most common in Guandong Province - some 2,000km from Dunhuang.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, who conducted the study, suggest that the traveller infected with this liver fluke must have journeyed an enormous distance, and suggest the discovery provides the first reliable evidence for long distance travel with an infectious disease along the Silk Road.

The findings are published today in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

"When I first saw the Chinese liver fluke egg down the microscope I knew that we had made a momentous discovery," said Hui-Yuan Yeh, one of the study's authors. "Our study is the first to use archaeological evidence from a site on the Silk Road to demonstrate that travellers were taking infectious diseases with them over these huge distances."

The Silk Road (or Silk Route) came to prominence during the Han Dynasty in China (202 BC - AD 220) as merchants, explorers, soldiers and government officials journeyed between East Asia and the Middle East/Mediterranean region. Researchers have previously suggested that diseases such as bubonic plague, anthrax and leprosy might have been carried by ancient travellers along the legendary trading route, as similar strains have been found in China and Europe.

"Until now there has been no proof that the Silk Road was responsible for the spread of infectious diseases. They could instead have spread between China and Europe via India to the south, or via Mongolia and Russia to the north," says study lead Piers Mitchell.

The Cambridge team worked alongside Chinese researchers Ruilin Mao and Hui Wang from the Gansu Institute for Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who originally excavated the ancient latrine and relay station in Ganzu Province.

The stop was a popular one on the Silk Road with travellers staying there and government officials using the facility to change their horses and deliver letters. While excavating the latrine, the Chinese team found the personal hygiene sticks with cloth wrapped round one end.

Added Mitchell: "Finding evidence for this species in the latrine indicates that a traveller had come here from a region of China with plenty of water, where the parasite was endemic. This proves for the first time that travellers along the Silk Road really were responsible for the spread of infectious disease along this route in the past."
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Reference:

EurkAlert. 2016. “Ancient feces provides earliest evidence of infectious disease being carried on Silk Road”. EurekAlert. Posted: July 21, 2016. Available online: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/uoc-afp071916.php

Tuberculosis found in 7000 year old bodies

Tuberculosis was present in Europe as early as 7000 years ago, according to new research published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Muriel Masson and colleagues at the University of Szeged examined 71 individuals for their skeletal palaeopathology from a late Neolithic Tisza culture population of the 7000-year-old site of Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa in southern Hungary.

A disease called Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteopathy (HPO) is characterized by symmetrical new bone formations on the long bones caused by periostitis. Most recently in the Middle East, the skeletal remains of a 12-month old infant recovered from the underwater Neolithic site of Atlit-Yam, Israel, dated to 9250-8160 BP, were described as showing evidence of HOA, in addition to Mycobacterium tuberculosis aDNA and mycolic cell wall biomarkers.[1].

Numerous cases of infections and metabolic diseases HPO is however a rare find in the archaeological record. The oldest documented cases in Europe include a Merovingian skeleton from the site of Les Rues des Vignes (Nord, France) dated AD500 to 700.

The researchers here found numerous cases of infections and metabolic diseases, and some skeletons showed signs of HPO which offered the potential of isolating tuberculosis. They focused on one skeleton in particular to verify this hypothesis, and analysed the ancient DNA and lipids from the bones to do so. Both tests confirmed the presence of the bacterial complex associated with tuberculosis.

This is one of the earliest known cases of HPO and tuberculosis to date, and helps shed new light on this European community in prehistoric times.

Masson concludes, “This is a crucial find from a fantastic site. It is not only the earliest occurrence of fully-developed HPO on an adult skeleton to date, but also clearly establishes the presence of Tuberculosis in Europe 7000 years ago.”
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References:

Past Horizons. 2013. “Tuberculosis found in 7000 year old bodies”. Past Horizons. Posted: October 31, 2013. Available online: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/10/2013/tuburculosis-found-in-7000-year-old-body

Ancient Incan Mummy Had Lung Infection, According to Novel Proteomics Analysis

A 500-year-old frozen Incan mummy suffered from a bacterial lung infection at the time of its death, as revealed by a novel proteomics method that shows evidence of an active pathogenic infection in an ancient sample for the first time.

Detecting diseases in ancient remains is often fraught with difficulty, especially because of contamination. Techniques based on microbe DNA can easily be confused by environmental contamination, and they can only confirm that the pathogen was present, not that the person was infected, but the researchers behind the study, led by Angelique Corthals of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, found a way around this problem. They used proteomics, focusing on protein rather than DNA remains, to profile immune system response from degraded samples taken from 500 year-old mummies.

The team swabbed the lips of two Andean Inca mummies, buried at 22,000-feet elevation and originally discovered in 1999, and compared the proteins they found to large databases of the human genome. They found that the protein profile from the mummy of a 15-year old girl, called "The Maiden," was similar to that of chronic respiratory infection patients, and the analysis of the DNA showed the presence of probably pathogenic bacteria in the genus Mycobacterium, responsible for upper respiratory tract infections and tuberculosis. In addition, X-rays of the lungs of the Maiden showed signs of lung infection at the time of death. Proteomics, DNA, and x-rays from another mummy found together with the Maiden did not show signs of respiratory infection.

"Pathogen detection in ancient tissues isn't new, but until now it's been impossible to say whether the infectious agent was latent or active," says Corthals. "Our technique opens a new door to solving some of history's biggest mysteries, such as the reasons why the flu of 1918 was so devastating. It will also enhance our understanding of our future's greatest threats, such as the emergence of new infectious agents or re-emergence of known infectious diseases."

"Our study is the first of its kind since rather than looking for the pathogen, which is notoriously difficult to do in historical samples, we are looking at the immune system protein profile of the "patient," which more accurately tells us that there was indeed an infection at the time of death." or "Our study opens the door to solving many historical and current biomedical and forensic mysteries, from understanding why the plague of 1918 was so lethal, to finding out which pathogen is responsible for death in cases of multiple infections."
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References:

Science Daily. 2012. "Ancient Incan Mummy Had Lung Infection, According to Novel Proteomics Analysis". Science Daily. Posted: July 25, 2012. Available online: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120725200302.htm

Egyptian Princess Mummy Had Oldest Known Heart Disease

An ancient Egyptian princess might have been able to postpone her mummification if she had cut the calories and exercised more, medical experts say.

Known as Ahmose Meryet Amon, the princess lived some 3,500 years ago and died in her 40s. She was entombed at the Deir el-Bahri royal mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to the city of Luxor.

The princess's mummified body is among those now housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Recent scans of 52 of the museum's mummies revealed almost half of the dead have clogged arteries—including the princess. In fact, she is now the earliest known sufferer of coronary atherosclerosis, a condition caused by a buildup of arterial plaque, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.

Ahmose Meryet Amon—"Child of the Moon, Beloved of Amun"—had blockages in five major arteries, including those that supply blood to the brain and heart, said study co-leader Gregory Thomas, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Irvine.

"If the princess was in a time machine and I was to see her now, I would tell her to lay off the fat, take plenty of exercise, then schedule her for heart surgery," Thomas said.

"She would require a double bypass."

Egypt Princess Lived in Times of Bread and Honey

Although the mummies' actual hearts had been removed before entombment, the CT scans uncovered calcium deposits elsewhere in the bodies that are indicative of artery damage. But the study team could not confirm that any of the mummies died of heart disease, because most of the mummies' organs were either disintegrated or missing.

However, a medical text dating back to the time the princess lived—between 1550 and 1580 B.C.—describes the pain in the arm and chest that precedes a potentially fatal heart attack.

In general, blocked arteries and heart attacks are health risks we associate with today's lifestyle and diet, not those of the ancient Egyptians, noted study co-author Michael Miyamoto of the University of California, San Diego's School of Medicine.

"They lacked a lot of the risk factors that we consider to be important in the development of atherosclerosis in modern populations—namely smoking, high rates of diabetes and obesity, and foods rich in trans fats," Miyamoto said.

But as a daughter of the Pharaoh Seqenenre Tao II, the princess—like the other examined mummies—was a member of the elite. That means she was possibly more prone to heart disease than the rest of the population.

"Since they were the elite, they presumably led more pampered lifestyles, were more sedentary, and also—maybe importantly—had access to foods which were dense in calories, particularly meats," Miyamoto said.

Adel Allam, study co-author and professor of cardiology at Egypt's Al Azhar University, added that the princess lived during a prosperous period of Egyptian history.

"Even the very poor people would eat a lot of pork, and the bread became mixed with honey," he said. "If ordinary people at this time did get a lot of carbohydrates and fat in their diets, then of course the elite would have got even more unhealthy food," he said.

Royal's Damaged Arteries a Family Affair?

Perhaps backing up diet as a contributing factor, researchers had previously found some evidence among ancient Egyptians for diabetes, a condition often associated with obesity, Allam added. Also, Egyptian papyrus documents by ancient physicians refer to diabetes symptoms.

However, although body fat is not preserved on ancient mummies, the signs are that Ahmose Meryet Amon was probably petite, Allam said. In fact, the team suspects some factor other than diet and lifestyle may have contributed to her vascular disease.

For instance, "in her family there were a couple of other queens and princesses that had atherosclerosis, so a genetic element cannot be excluded," Allam said.

The new study suggests that genetics may be even more important than thought in causing atherosclerosis, and the mummies might hold clues to which genetic factors are involved.

Another possibility is that atherosclerosis can be brought on by chronic inflammation caused by a person's immune system responding to infection, which in turn can lead to inflammation of the blood vessel walls.

"The princess was known to have arthritis and inflammation of the joints," Allam noted. "Also, she had severe dental disease, which is another inflammation."

The US-Egyptian research team is undertaking further studies on a total of 72 mummies to investigate the individuals' genetic links, evidence of other health issues including arthritis and cancer, and whether their bones can reveal how active they were.

The team's most recent findings are published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging.
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References:

Owen, James. 2011. "Egyptian Princess Mummy Had Oldest Known Heart Disease". National Geographic Daily News. Posted: April 15, 2011. Available online: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/110415-ancient-egypt-mummies-princess-heart-disease-health-science/