Fungal, Viral, Multicelled Parasitic, and Protozoan Infections

Grauer, Anne L.; Roberts, Charlotte A.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809738-0.00012-0

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 168 publications

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“…This focus is partly due to the lack of bony responses to acute infections that typically occur with viral pathogens. Researchers are thus often limited in their abilities to study viral infections using skeletal remains alone, with the exception of poliomyelitis and variola osteomyelitis [ 63 ]. Radiological imaging can help to some extent by visualizing features that are not accessible through anthroposcopic techniques.…”

Section: Tools and Datasets To Reconstruct Past Disease-scapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Holocene roots of contemporary disease-scapes: bringing archaeology into One Health

Rayfield,

Mychajliw,

Singleton

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The accelerating pace of emerging zoonotic diseases in the twenty-first century has motivated cross-disciplinary collaboration on One Health approaches, combining microbiology, veterinary and environmental sciences, and epidemiology for outbreak prevention and mitigation. Such outbreaks are often caused by spillovers attributed to human activities that encroach on wildlife habitats and ecosystems, such as land use change, industrialized food production, urbanization and animal trade. While the origin of anthropogenic effects on animal ecology and biogeography can be traced to the Late Pleistocene, the archaeological record—a long-term archive of human–animal–environmental interactions—has largely been untapped in these One Health approaches, thus limiting our understanding of these dynamics over time. In this review, we examine how humans, as niche constructors, have facilitated new host species and ‘disease-scapes’ from the Late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene, by viewing zooarchaeological, bioarchaeological and palaeoecological data with a One Health perspective. We also highlight how new biomolecular tools and advances in the ‘-omics’ can be holistically coupled with archaeological and palaeoecological reconstructions in the service of studying zoonotic disease emergence and re-emergence.

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Section: Tools and Datasets To Reconstruct Past Disease-scapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Holocene roots of contemporary disease-scapes: bringing archaeology into One Health

Rayfield,

Mychajliw,

Singleton

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Identifying treponemal disease in early East Asia

Yawei

Gao

Zhang³

et al. 2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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ObjectivesHistoric records suggest that a virulent form of treponematosis, sexually transmitted syphilis was introduced to Asia from Europe by the da Gama crew, who landed in India in 1498. Our objective is to assess the gross pathology of human skeletal remains from the Tang dynasty of China to test the presence of treponemal infection in East Asia before 1498. We interpret this paleopathological evidence in the context of site ecology and sociocultural changes during the Tang dynasty.Materials and methodsWe examined the gross pathology of 1598 human skeletons from Xingfulindai (AD 618 to AD 1279) archeological site located on the Central Plain of China. Using the modified diagnostic criteria defined by Hackett's classical work, we classify the pathology as consistent, strongly suggestive, or pathognomonic for treponemal infection.ResultsTwelve adult individuals from Xingfulindai had bone lesions suggestive of systemic pathology. Two of these individuals displayed a combination of lesion patterns pathognomonic of treponemal disease and one had lesions consistent with treponematosis. The radiocarbon dates for the bone samples from these skeletons place them before AD 1200.ConclusionsThe location of Xingfulindai in a continental climatic zone is not typical for yaws and bejel ecology, because these strains occur in the tropics, or in hot, dry environments, respectively. The urban setting, where there is documented evidence for increased interaction between multiple ethnic groups and a developed institution of courtesans during the Tang dynasty, favors sexually transmitted syphilis as the more likely diagnosis. This study supports an earlier spread of syphilis to China than 1498.

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A morphological and molecular approach to investigating infectious disease in early medieval Iberia: The necropolis of La Olmeda (Palencia, Spain)

Coppola Bove,

Kirkpatrick,

Vigil‐Escalera Guirado

et al. 2024

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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ObjectiveHere we investigate infectious diseases that potentially contribute to osteological lesions in individuals from the early medieval necropolis of La Olmeda (6th‐11th c. CE) in North Iberia.Materials and methodsWe studied a minimum number of 268 individuals (33 adult females; 38 adult males, 77 unknown/indeterminate sex; and 120 non‐adults), including articulated and commingled remains. Individuals with differential diagnoses suggesting chronic systemic infectious diseases were sampled and bioinformatically screened for ancient pathogen DNA.ResultsFive non‐adults (and no adults) presented skeletal evidence of chronic systemic infectious disease (1.87% of the population; 4.67% of non‐adults). The preferred diagnoses for these individuals included tuberculosis, brucellosis, and malaria. Ancient DNA fragments assigned to the malaria‐causing pathogen, Plasmodium spp., were identified in three of the five individuals. Observed pathology includes lesions generally consistent with malaria; however, additional lesions in two of the individuals may represent hitherto unknown variation in the skeletal manifestation of this disease or co‐infection with tuberculosis or brucellosis. Additionally, spondylolysis was observed in one individual with skeletal lesions suggestive of infectious disease.ConclusionsThis study sheds light on the pathological landscape in Iberia during a time of great social, demographic, and environmental change. Genetic evidence challenges the hypothesis that malaria was absent from early medieval Iberia and demonstrates the value of combining osteological and archaeogenetic methods. Additionally, all of the preferred infectious diagnoses for the individuals included in this study (malaria, tuberculosis, and brucellosis) could have contributed to the febrile cases described in historical sources from this time.

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Fungal, Viral, Multicelled Parasitic, and Protozoan Infections

Cited by 6 publications

References 168 publications

Uncovering the Holocene roots of contemporary disease-scapes: bringing archaeology into One Health

Uncovering the Holocene roots of contemporary disease-scapes: bringing archaeology into One Health

Identifying treponemal disease in early East Asia

A morphological and molecular approach to investigating infectious disease in early medieval Iberia: The necropolis of La Olmeda (Palencia, Spain)

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