Identification of<i>Treponema pallidum</i>Subspecies<i>pallidum</i>in a 200‐Year‐Old Skeletal Specimen

Kolman, Connie J.; Centurión-Lara, Arturo; Lukehart, Sheila A.; Owsley, Douglas W.; Tuross, Noreen

doi:10.1086/315151

Cited by 115 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Early work by Kolman et al (1999) claiming identification of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum has not been replicated by later workers (Bouwman and Brown, 2005;Barnes andThomas, 2006, Von Hunnius et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apple Down 152: A putative case of syphilis from sixth century AD Anglo‐Saxon England

Cole¹,

Waldron²

2010

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This report describes a putative case of a treponemal infection observed on a skeleton of a young male adult from the Apple Down Anglo-Saxon cemetery dating to the sixth century AD, accompanied by grave goods indicative of a high status burial. The skeleton is well preserved and almost complete. The pathological evidence includes an extensive area of lytic destruction to the frontal bone of the skull, widespread profuse bilateral symmetrical periosteal reaction affecting scapulae, clavicles, arms, legs, hands, feet and ribs. There is also evidence of gummatous destruction on some of the long bones. Application of a differential diagnosis of all probable diseases exhibiting the individual symptoms leads to a clear conclusion that the person was infected with a treponemal pathogen. The skeleton shows none of the stigmata associated with the congenital form of treponemal disease. We propose that the evidence suggests a possible case of venereal syphilis rather than one of the endemic forms of treponemal disease. This diagnosis is based on the geographical pathogen range, the apparent low prevalence of the disease, significant social upheaval at the time, the high social status and early age of death of the individual.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apple Down 152: A putative case of syphilis from sixth century AD Anglo‐Saxon England

Cole¹,

Waldron²

2010

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An example is the search for treponemal DNA in skeletons with evidence of venereal or endemic syphilis undertaken to answer the enigma of its origins and to link skeletal lesions with species (20). Early indications that DNA from this pathogen might persist (17) have not been borne out by later studies, leaving many workers doubtful whether DNA from this organism will ever feature prominently in bioarchaeological research (3). Similarly, the survival of DNA from Yersinia species remains controversial, with some groups finding a relatively high occurrence in remains of victims of the Black Death (10), an observation which others have been unable to replicate (13).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genotypic Analysis of the Earliest Known Prehistoric Case of Tuberculosis in Britain

2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The earliest known case of human tuberculosis in Britain dates to the middle period of the Iron Age, approximately 2,200 years before present. Bone lesions on the spine of a male skeleton excavated at Tarrant Hinton in Dorset, United Kingdom, show evidence of Pott's disease and are supported by molecular evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA amplified by IS6110 PCR (19). In the present study, we used a further series of sensitive PCR methods to confirm the diagnosis of tuberculosis and to determine the genotype of the infecting strain. These tests demonstrated that this individual was infected with a strain of M. tuberculosis rather than Mycobacterium bovis. The strain had undergone the tuberculosis D1 deletion affecting the mmpS6 and mmpL6 genes and can therefore be identified as a member of the family of "modern" M. tuberculosis isolates. All evidence obtained was consistent with surviving mycobacterial DNA being highly fragmented in this case.

show abstract

“…In addition to its utility in the specific diagnosis of treponemal infections from biopsy or swab samples, this method may permit subspecies differentiation in ancient DNA (22) from skeletal remains for studying the migration and evolution of the treponemal subspecies during the centuries. Ongoing studies in our laboratories may lead to the development of serological methods for differentiation of the treponematoses.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Differentiation ofTreponema pallidumSubspecies

Centurión-Lara

Molini²,

Godornes³

et al. 2006

J Clin Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Treponema pallidum includes three subspecies of antigenically highly related treponemes. These organisms cause clinically distinct diseases and cannot be distinguished by any existing test. In this report, genetic signatures are identified in two tpr genes which, in combination with the previously published signature in the 5 flanking region of the tpp15 gene, can differentiate the T. pallidum subspecies, as well as a simian treponeme.

show abstract

Identification ofTreponema pallidumSubspeciespallidumin a 200‐Year‐Old Skeletal Specimen

Cited by 115 publications

References 12 publications

Apple Down 152: A putative case of syphilis from sixth century AD Anglo‐Saxon England

Apple Down 152: A putative case of syphilis from sixth century AD Anglo‐Saxon England

Genotypic Analysis of the Earliest Known Prehistoric Case of Tuberculosis in Britain

Molecular Differentiation ofTreponema pallidumSubspecies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About