Hyperdisease in the late Pleistocene: validation of an early 20th century hypothesis

Abstract

The hypothesis of disease-related large mammal extinction has new support. A unique pathologic zone of resorption was first noticed in a Hiscock Mammut americanum metacarpal. The pathognomonic zone of resorption was present in fifty-nine (52%) of 113 skeletons with feet available for examination. Metacarpals and metatarsals were most commonly affected. Associated rib periosteal reaction is highly suggestive of tuberculosis and the foot lesions were identical to that documented in Bison as pathognomonic for tuberculosis. Recognizing that only a portion of animals infected by infectious tuberculosis develop bone involvement, the high frequency of the pathology in M. americanum suggests that tuberculosis was not simply endemic, but actually pandemic, a hyperdisease. Pandemic tuberculosis was one of several probable factors contributing to mastodon extinction.

Post-Clovis survival of American Mastodon in the southern Great Lakes Region of North America

“…Although empirical evidence suggests that disease may have contributed to the extinction of individual species under stress (Rothschild and Laub, 2006), the hyperdisease hypothesis does not rely upon specific timing of the extinction event, and we do not address it further.…”

La Fauna Pleistocénica: Evidencias Zooarqueológicas en La Meseta Central De Santa Cruz, Los Sitios De La María

“…Finalmente, otros factores que han sido planteados para otras partes del mundo son la introducción de especies exóticas (Holdaway, 1999) que en el caso patagónico pareciera descartado (el único candidato es el perro que cada vez está más claro llegó mucho después) y nuevas enfermedades (MacPhee & Marx, 1997), entre otras. La posibilidad de que una "hiperenfermedad" haya sido un agente causal de la extinción de la megafauna ha sido planteado para especies particulares como el mastodonte (Rothschild & Laub, 2006) pero no ha sido confirmada en el caso patagónico, pese a que se tomaron muestras en Cueva del Milodón en excelente estado de conservación (Clark et al 2012a(Clark et al , 2012b.…”

Pathophysiological Implications of Cell Envelope Structure in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Related Taxa

“…The total dearth of any evidence for tuberculosis in Homo sapiens, prior to the Holocene, suggests zoonotic evolutionary hosts [79,98,99]. Characteristic skeletal lesions in a variety of Pleistocene megafauna are suggesting the presence of tuberculosis over a wide time period, going back to at least 120 ka BP [100,101]. In one well-documented example of a 17ka extinct bison, diagnosis by lesion was conclusively confirmed by amplification of M. tuberculosis complex DNA and recovery of pristine mycolipenate ( Figure 5) and mycocerosate ( Figure 4) tuberculosis lipid biomarkers [99,102,103].…”