Molecular Identification of Falciparum Malaria and Human Tuberculosis Co-Infections in Mummies from the Fayum Depression (Lower Egypt)

被引：51

作者：

Lalremruata, Albert ^{[1
,2
]}

Ball, Markus ^{[2
]}

Bianucci, Raffaella ^{[3
,4
]}

Welte, Beatrix ^{[5
]}

Nerlich, Andreas G. ^{[6
]}

Kun, Juergen F. J. ^{[1
]}

Pusch, Carsten M. ^{[2
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Tubingen, Inst Trop Med, Tubingen, Germany

[2] Univ Tubingen, Inst Human Genet, Dept Med Genet, Tubingen, Germany

[3] Univ Turin, Lab Phys Anthropol, Dept Publ Hlth & Paediat Sci, Turin, Italy

[4] Univ Pisa, Div Paleopathol Hist Med & Bioeth, Dept Oncol Transplants & Adv Technol Med, Pisa, Italy

[5] Univ Tubingen, Dept Early Prehist & Quaternary Ecol, Inst Pre & Protohist & Medieval Archaeol, Tubingen, Germany

[6] Acad Clin Munchen Bogenhausen, Div Paleopathol, Inst Pathol, Munich, Germany

来源：

PLOS ONE | 2013年 / 8卷 / 04期

关键词：

PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM; MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS; ANCIENT-EGYPT; INFECTION; DNA;

D O I：

10.1371/journal.pone.0060307

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Due to the presence of the lake Quarun and to the particular nature of its irrigation system, it has been speculated that the Fayum, a large depression 80 kilometers south-west of modern Cairo, was exposed to the hazards of malaria in historic times. Similarly, it has been speculated that, in the same area, also human tuberculosis might have been far more widespread in the antiquity than in its recent past. If these hypotheses were confirmed, it would imply that frequent cases of co-infection between the two pathogens might have occurred in ancient populations. To substantiate those speculations, molecular analyses were carried out on sixteen mummified heads recovered from the necropolis of Abusir el Meleq (Fayum) dating from the 3rd Intermediate Period (1064-656 BC) to the Roman Period (30 BC- 300 AD). Soft tissue biopsies were used for DNA extractions and PCR amplifications using well-suited protocols. A partial 196-bp fragment of Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 gene and a 123-bp fragment of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex insertion sequence IS6110 were amplified and sequenced in six and five of the sixteen specimens, respectively. A 100% concordance rates between our sequences and those of P. falciparum and M. tuberculosis complex ones were obtained. Lastly, concomitant PCR amplification of P. falciparum and M. tuberculosis complex DNA specific fragments was obtained in four mummies, three of which are (14) C dated to the Late and Graeco-Roman Periods. Our data confirm that the hydrography of Fayum was extremely conducive to the spread of malaria. They also support the notion that the agricultural boom and dense crowding occurred in this region, especially under the Ptolemies, highly increased the probability for the manifestation and spread of tuberculosis. Here we extend back-wards to ca. 800 BC new evidence for malaria tropica and human tuberculosis co-occurrence in ancient Lower Egypt.

引用

页数：7