2023-10-11 10:12:00
This was indicated by an analysis of DNA extracted from the remains of 1313 Eurasians
Paleogeneticists analyzed DNA sequenced from the remains of 1,313 people who lived in the last 37 thousand years. They found that many people were infected with various pathogens: plague bacillus, Borrelia relapsing fever, the causative agent of three-day malaria and a number of other microbes. Among other things, scientists identified the hepatitis B virus in six hunter-gatherers who were buried in the area of the Kolyma River and Lake Baikal more than 9,600 years ago. Preprint of this study posted on the bioRxiv website.
Until recently, scientists might only learn regarding the diseases of ancient people if they left noticeable marks on the bones. But many infections either do not affect the bones at all, or occur too quickly to do so. In recent years, the picture of diseases of the past has been significantly supplemented by paleogeneticists, who often find the DNA of ancient pathogens in human remains. For example, many works have appeared devoted to ancient cases of infection with the plague bacillus (Yersinia pestis), hepatitis B virus, salmonella (Salmonella enterica) and a number of other pathogens.
A team of scientists from Australia, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, led by paleogeneticist Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, analyzed DNA shotgun-sequenced from the remains of 1,313 Eurasians, the oldest of whom lived regarding 37,000 years ago. The researchers found that many of the samples contained DNA sequences from a variety of pathogens: bacteria, viruses and parasitic protozoa.
In 39 samples, scientists found DNA of the plague bacillus. The oldest of them come from the west of modern Russia, from Central Asia and Baikal Siberia, and their age ranges from 5300 to 5700 years. In addition, researchers have identified the oldest cases of plague infection in the Iberian Peninsula (regarding 4000-4200 years old) and in Britain, where remains approximately 4800-4900 years old were found in the Orkney Islands. It was previously assumed that this pathogen entered the territory of modern Britain regarding 4,400 years ago along with the bearers of the bell-shaped beaker tradition.
Another common pathogen was Borrelia relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis), which is usually spread from person to person by lice. Previously, the DNA of this bacterium was found only in the remains of a medieval Scandinavian who lived in the 15th century. Scientists have now identified 31 cases from Europe, Central Asia and Siberia. The oldest of them come from Scandinavia, and their age ranges from 4400 to 4800 years. Among eight Scandinavians, the oldest of whom lived regarding 1500-1300 years ago, scientists identified Hansen’s wand (Mycobacterium leprae) – the causative agent of leprosy. Three more people who lived between 600 and 300 years ago were infected with Treponema pallidum (Treponema pale), subspecies of which cause diseases such as syphilis, yaws, pinta and bejel.
DNA of the causative agent of intestinal yersiniosis was found in 12 samples of paleogenetics Y. enterocolitica, which usually causes a person to become infected by eating raw or thermally poorly processed meat and dairy products. There were numerous (n = 82) cases of Shigella infection (Shigella), salmonella (Salmonella) and E. coli (Escherichia). In particular, Shigella dysentery (St. dysentery) a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer who lived in Denmark regarding 8300-8000 years ago was infected. The researchers also documented the earliest case of leptospirosis, a zoonotic infection, found in a Scandinavian man who lived approximately 5,600 to 5,400 years ago.
Among other things, scientists discovered two early medieval people infected with malarial plasmodium (Plasmodium vivax). Archaeologists discovered the remains of one of them in the Gnezdovo burial ground. 35 people studied were infected with the hepatitis B virus. The most ancient of them were six hunter-gatherers, whose remains were found in the area of the Kolyma River and Lake Baikal. According to researchers, they lived regarding 9900-9600 years ago. In addition, in some cases, scientists have documented cases of coinfections. For example, one Viking Age man from Norway was infected with the smallpox virus and the causative agent of leprosy, and a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer from the Sidelkino site (Samara region), who lived more than 11 thousand years ago, was simultaneously infected with diphtheria pathogens Corynebacterium diphtheriae and helibacteriosis Helicobacter pylory.
Previously on N + 1 they said that the DNA of the plague wand was found in the teeth of two men – carriers of the Unetica archaeological culture, who were buried in Austria regarding four thousand years ago.
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