Immunological evidence of Plasmodium falciparum infection in an Egyptian child mummy from the Early Dynastic Period

Bianucci, Raffaella; Mattutino, Grazia; Lallo, Rudy; Charlier, Philippe; Jouin-Spriet, Hélène; Peluso, Alberto; Higham, Thomas; Torre, Carlo; Massa, E. Rabino

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.019

Cited by 53 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…No much was known about malaria in ancient Egypt before examining the Egyptian mummies by immunologic tests (Miller et al, 1994;Massa et al, 2000;Bianucci et al, 2008;Nerlich et al, 2008;Hawass et al, 2010) which confirmed the high prevalence of P. falciparum malaria in ancient Egypt. Massa et al (2000) reported 42% positive cases out of 80 samples examined while Nerlich et al (2008) reported only 2.2% positivity in 91 tested samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of <i>Anopheles</i> Mosquitoes and Malaria in Ancient and Modern Egypt

Kenawy¹

2015

jmr

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This article reviews and discusses the status of Anopheles mosquitoes and malaria in ancient and modern Egypt based on the available and scattered reports. Eleven Anopheles species are present in Egypt of which An. pharoensis and An. sergentii are the proven vectors. The two vectors with their characteristics of zoophilic tendency, low infectivity rates and relatively short longevity convey the unstable type of malaria prevailed in Egypt. The immunologic tests on the Egyptian mummies confirmed the high prevalence of P. falciparum malaria in ancient Egypt. Malaria was endemic in almost all parts of the country but prevalence has shown a steady decrease by 1990, and regressed in most of the Governorates. Then by the end of 1998 till now all reported cases are imported mainly from Sudan. However, some locally acquired cases were reported in El Faiyoum and Cairo. Moreover, the recent outbreak of falciparum (1 case) and vivax (23 cases) that occurred (May 2014) in Aswan Governorate strongly indicates that malaria is reemerging in the country.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of <i>Anopheles</i> Mosquitoes and Malaria in Ancient and Modern Egypt

Kenawy¹

2015

jmr

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“…Groups with these underlying chronic conditions are at increased risk of contracting, for example, cholera, typhoid fever and acute respiratory infections. Infectious diseases identified previously in ancient Egyptian mummies include malaria and tuberculosis [86,87].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of proteins from 4200-year-old skin and muscle tissue biopsies from ancient Egyptian mummies of the first intermediate period shows evidence of acute inflammation and severe immune response

Jones

Mirzaei

Ravishankar

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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We performed proteomics analysis on four skin and one muscle tissue samples taken from three ancient Egyptian mummies of the first intermediate period, approximately 4200 years old. The mummies were first dated by radiocarbon dating of the accompany-\break ing textiles, and morphologically examined by scanning electron microscopy of additional skin samples. Proteins were extracted, separated on SDS–PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) gels, and in-gel digested with trypsin. The resulting peptides were analysed using nanoflow high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. We identified a total of 230 unique proteins from the five samples, which consisted of 132 unique protein identifications. We found a large number of collagens, which was confirmed by our microscopy data, and is in agreement with previous studies showing that collagens are very long-lived. As expected, we also found a large number of keratins. We identified numerous proteins that provide evidence of activation of the innate immunity system in two of the mummies, one of which also contained proteins indicating severe tissue inflammation, possibly indicative of an infection that we can speculate may have been related to the cause of death. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Quantitative mass spectrometry’.

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“…the condition is believed to have been endemic in the Old World by 500 BCE although it must have been active in the region well before (Sallares, Bowman, and anderung 2004). attempts to identify antigens produced in response to malaria detect the disease in Egypt in very early periods (Bianucci et al 2008). Other approaches, however, demonstrate its presence only later.…”

Section: Plaguementioning

confidence: 99%