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The 14th–18th century pandemic of Yersinia pestis caused devastating disease outbreaks in Europe for almost 400 years. The reasons for plague’s persistence and abrupt disappearance in Europe are poorly understood, but could have been due to either the presence of now-extinct plague foci in Europe itself, or successive disease introductions from other locations. Here we present five Y. pestis genomes from one of the last European outbreaks of plague, from 1722 in Marseille, France. The lineage identified has not been found in any extant Y. pestis foci sampled to date, and has its ancestry in strains obtained from victims of the 14th century Black Death. These data suggest the existence of a previously uncharacterized historical plague focus that persisted for at least three centuries. We propose that this disease source may have been responsible for the many resurgences of plague in Europe following the Black Death. A bacterium called Yersina pestis is responsible for numerous human outbreaks of plague throughout history. It is carried by rats and other rodents and can spread to humans causing what we conventionally refer to as plague. The most notorious of these plague outbreaks – the Black Death – claimed millions of lives in Europe in the mid-14th century. Several other plague outbreaks emerged in Europe over the next 400 years. Then, there was a large gap before the plague re-emerged as threat in the 19th century and it continues to infect humans today, though on a smaller scale. Scientists have extensively studied Y. pestis to understand its origin and how it evolved to become such a deadly threat. These studies led to the assumption that the plague outbreaks of the 14–18th centuries likely originated in rodents in Asia and spread along trade routes to other parts of the world. However, it is not clear why the plague persisted in Europe for 400 years after the Black Death. Could the bacteria have gained a foothold in local rodents instead of being reintroduced from Asia each time? If it did, why did it then disappear for such a long period from the end of the 18th century? To help answer these questions, Bos, Herbig et al. sequenced the DNA of Y. pestis samples collected from the teeth of five individuals who died of plague during the last major European outbreak of plague in 1722 in Marseille, France. The DNA sequences of these bacterial samples were then compared with the DNA sequences of modern day Y. pestis and other historical samples of the bacteria. The results showed the bacteria in the Marseille outbreak likely evolved from the strain that caused the Black Death back in the 14th century. The comparisons showed that the strain isolated from the teeth is not found today, and may be extinct. This suggests that a historical reservoir for plague existed somewhere, perhaps in Asia, or perhaps in Europe itself, and was able to cause outbreaks up until the 18th century.Bos, Herbig et al.’s findings may help researchers trying to control the current outbreaks of the plague in Madagascar and other places.

During the two World Wars, Bartonella quintana was responsible for trench fever and is now recognised as an agent of re-emerging infection. Many reports have indicated widespread B. quintana exposure since the 1990s. In order to evaluate its prevalence in ancient populations, we used real-time PCR to detect B. quintana DNA in 400 teeth collected from 145 individuals dating from the 1st to 19th centuries in nine archaeological sites, with the presence of negative controls. Fisher's exact test was used to compare the prevalence of B. quintana in civil and military populations. B. quintana DNA was confirmed in a total of 28/145 (19.3%) individuals, comprising 78 citizens and 67 soldiers, 20.1% and 17.9% of which were positive for B. quintana bacteraemia, respectively. This study analysed previous studies on these ancient samples and showed that the presence of B. quintana infection followed the course of time in human history; a total of 14/15 sites from five European countries had a positive prevalence. The positive rate in soldiers was higher than those of civilians, with 20% and 18.8%, respectively, in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the difference in frequency was not significant. These results confirmed the role of dental pulp in diagnosing B. quintana bacteraemia in ancient populations and showed the incidence of B. quintana in both civilians and soldiers.

The Qafzeh site (Lower Galilee, Israel) has yielded the largest Levantine hominin collection from Middle Palaeolithic layers which were dated to circa 90-100 kyrs BP or to marine isotope stage 5b-c. Within the hominin sample, Qafzeh 11, circa 12-13 yrs old at death, presents a skull lesion previously attributed to a healed trauma. Three dimensional imaging methods allowed us to better explore this lesion which appeared as being a frontal bone depressed fracture, associated with brain damage. Furthermore the endocranial volume, smaller than expected for dental age, supports the hypothesis of a growth delay due to traumatic brain injury. This trauma did not affect the typical human brain morphology pattern of the right frontal and left occipital petalia. It is highly probable that this young individual suffered from personality and neurological troubles directly related to focal cerebral damage. Interestingly this young individual benefited of a unique funerary practice among the south-western Asian burials dated to Middle Palaeolithic.

Ancient septicemic plague epidemics were reported to have killed millions of people for 2 millenniums. However, confident diagnosis of ancient septicemia solely on the basis of historical clinical observations is not possible. The lack of suitable infected material has prevented direct demonstration of ancient septicemia; thus, the history of most infections such as plague remains hypothetical. The durability of dental pulp, together with its natural sterility, makes it a suitable material on which to base such research. We hypothesized that it would be a lasting refuge for Yersinia pestis, the plague agent. DNA extracts were made from the dental pulp of 12 unerupted teeth extracted from skeletons excavated from 16th and 18th century French graves of persons thought to have died of plague (``plague teeth'') and from 7 ancient negative control teeth. PCRs incorporating ancient DNA extracts and primers specific for the human β -globin gene demonstrated the absence of inhibitors in these preparations. The incorporation of primers specific for Y. pestis rpoB (the RNA polymerase β -subunit-encoding gene) and the recognized virulence-associated pla (the plasminogen activator-encoding gene) repeatedly yielded products that had a nucleotide sequence indistinguishable from that of modern day isolates of the bacterium. The specific pla sequence was obtained from 6 of 12 plague skeleton teeth but 0 of 7 negative controls (P < 0.034, Fisher exact test). A nucleic acid-based confirmation of ancient plague was achieved for historically identified victims, and we have confirmed the presence of the disease at the end of 16th century in France. Dental pulp is an attractive target in the quest to determine the etiology of septicemic illnesses detected in ancient corpses. Molecular techniques could be applied to this material to resolve historical outbreaks.

The aim of our paper is to present and discuss in detail the pathological lesions suggestive of tuberculosis observed in a skeleton (MMG3-75) that was excavated from the 16.sup.th -century-CE mass grave No. 3 of the Mohács National Memorial Site (Sátorhely, southwestern Hungary). The differential diagnoses of the observed bony changes, with special attention to the clival alterations, are presented. During the macromorphological, radiological, and digital microscopic examination of MMG3-75, the skull base showed mild cortical erosion and multiple, well-circumscribed osteolytic lesions at the clivus clearly evidenced by 3D imaging. In addition, endocranial granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions were observed in multiple locations on the inner skull surface. Based on the differential diagnosis of the clival changes and their co-occurrence with endocranial alterations indicative of tuberculous meningitis (granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions), they were most likely due to tuberculous involvement of the skull base. Additional aDNA analysis provided no evidence for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in MMG3-75. To the best of our knowledge, MMG3-75 is the first reported archaeological case of tuberculous clival osteomyelitis with associated meningitis, giving us a unique insight into the occurrence of an extremely rare manifestation of tuberculosis in mediaeval Hungary.

The present study proposes equations for age determination both in living and dead children, obtained with the help of stepwise ascending multiple linear regression. The equations should be applied, based on the number of erupted teeth and tooth germs, which were detected on radiographs, during clinical examination and in infant skeletal remains. The proposed equations proved to be efficient just like Demirjian’s method used as a reference today, and permit age estimation till 20 years of age.

The aim of our paper is to present and discuss in detail the pathological lesions suggestive of tuberculosis observed in a skeleton ( MMG3–75 ) that was excavated from the 16 th -century-CE mass grave No. 3 of the Mohács National Memorial Site (Sátorhely, southwestern Hungary). The differential diagnoses of the observed bony changes, with special attention to the clival alterations, are presented. During the macromorphological, radiological, and digital microscopic examination of MMG3–75 , the skull base showed mild cortical erosion and multiple, well-circumscribed osteolytic lesions at the clivus clearly evidenced by 3D imaging. In addition, endocranial granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions were observed in multiple locations on the inner skull surface. Based on the differential diagnosis of the clival changes and their co-occurrence with endocranial alterations indicative of tuberculous meningitis (granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions), they were most likely due to tuberculous involvement of the skull base. Additional aDNA analysis provided no evidence for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in MMG3–75 . To the best of our knowledge, MMG3–75 is the first reported archaeological case of tuberculous clival osteomyelitis with associated meningitis, giving us a unique insight into the occurrence of an extremely rare manifestation of tuberculosis in mediaeval Hungary.

In palaeopathology, in addition to typical skeletal lesions, the study of secondary or minor lesions increases the level of detection of pathologies in human populations of the past. In this perspective, we examined skeletal remains from the Neolithic site of Tell Aswad, located in the central Levant (southern Syria) in order to detect lesions attributable to tuberculosis (TB) infection. Skeletal lesions, vertebral and endocranial, are observed on the skeletal remains of a child from the Early PPNB horizon. These endocranial lesions show the pattern of Serpens Endocrania Symmetrica (“SES”) that is attributed to leptomeningitis (chronic TB meningitis). On the anterior aspect of four thoracic vertebrae, a remodeling and enlargement of the vascular foramina were also observed, suggestive of TB infection. This new case represents another clue in favor of the early presence of human tuberculosis in the Levant dated to the Neolithic period, in the context of the adoption of agriculture and animal domestication.

The aim of our paper is to present and discuss in detail the pathological lesions suggestive of tuberculosis observed in a skeleton ( MMG3–75 ) that was excavated from the 16 th -century-CE mass grave No. 3 of the Mohács National Memorial Site (Sátorhely, southwestern Hungary). The differential diagnoses of the observed bony changes, with special attention to the clival alterations, are presented. During the macromorphological, radiological, and digital microscopic examination of MMG3–75 , the skull base showed mild cortical erosion and multiple, well-circumscribed osteolytic lesions at the clivus clearly evidenced by 3D imaging. In addition, endocranial granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions were observed in multiple locations on the inner skull surface. Based on the differential diagnosis of the clival changes and their co-occurrence with endocranial alterations indicative of tuberculous meningitis (granular impressions and abnormal blood vessel impressions), they were most likely due to tuberculous involvement of the skull base. Additional aDNA analysis provided no evidence for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in MMG3–75 . To the best of our knowledge, MMG3–75 is the first reported archaeological case of tuberculous clival osteomyelitis with associated meningitis, giving us a unique insight into the occurrence of an extremely rare manifestation of tuberculosis in mediaeval Hungary.

BackgroundMany soldiers in Napoleon’s Grand Army died of infectious diseases during its retreat from Russia. Because soldiers were commonly infested with body lice, it has been speculated that louse-borne infectious diseases, such as epidemic typhus (caused by Rickettsia prowazekii), were common MethodsWe investigated this possibility during recent excavations of a mass grave of Napoleon’s soldiers in Vilnius, Lithuania. Segments of 5 body lice, identified morphologically and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing, were found in earth from the grave that also contained fragments of soldiers’ uniforms ResultsDNA of Bartonella quintana (the agent of trench fever) was identified by PCR and sequencing in 3 of the lice. Similarly, PCR and sequencing of dental pulp from the remains of 35 soldiers revealed DNA of B. quintana in 7 soldiers and DNA of R. prowazekii in 3 other soldiers ConclusionsOur results show that louse-borne infectious diseases affected nearly one-third of Napoleon’s soldiers buried in Vilnius and indicate that these diseases might have been a major factor in the French retreat from Russia