Angela
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This isn't particularly surprising. Malaria, and very lethal strains of it, seem to have been very widespread in the ancient world. Remember the paper on Tut which said it was a contributing factor to his death?
Leprosy was also pretty common, and tuberculosis.
See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/5066-161205-italy-malaria-parasite We haven't gotten these ancient mtDna results have we?
"HAMILTON, CANADA—The International Business Times reports that genetic evidence for the presence of malaria in the ancient world has been found in human teeth. Historical sources describe fevers in ancient Greece and Rome, but the specific disease that caused them has been unknown. A team of researchers led by geneticist Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University’s Ancient DNA Center examined mitochondrial DNA obtained from the teeth of 58 adults and ten children who had been buried in three different cemeteries in Italy between the first and third centuries A.D. They found genetic evidence of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite transmitted by mosquitoes that causes malaria, in teeth from two individuals. Plasmodium falciparum is the most common species of malaria parasite that infects people in sub-Saharan Africa—and the most deadly. Scholars now want to know how widespread the parasite was in the ancient world. The new evidence also provides scientists with more information about how the disease has evolved."
We haven't gotten these ancient mtDna results have we?
Anyway, although I remember a pretty recent paper on some remains with leprosy being found in northern or northeastern Europe (was it Poland?), the incidence of malaria would no doubt have been higher in more southern climes with a longer and hotter summer season given the spread by mosquitoes.
The higher rate of exposure of some southern European populations to these kinds of diseases, and the subsequent ramping up of the immune system to deal with it was listed as a possible reason for the higher rates of autoimmune disorders in Italians, and on a south/north cline.
I think there's more to it than that, but I can see that as a factor. See:
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep32513
Leprosy was also pretty common, and tuberculosis.
See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/5066-161205-italy-malaria-parasite We haven't gotten these ancient mtDna results have we?
"HAMILTON, CANADA—The International Business Times reports that genetic evidence for the presence of malaria in the ancient world has been found in human teeth. Historical sources describe fevers in ancient Greece and Rome, but the specific disease that caused them has been unknown. A team of researchers led by geneticist Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University’s Ancient DNA Center examined mitochondrial DNA obtained from the teeth of 58 adults and ten children who had been buried in three different cemeteries in Italy between the first and third centuries A.D. They found genetic evidence of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite transmitted by mosquitoes that causes malaria, in teeth from two individuals. Plasmodium falciparum is the most common species of malaria parasite that infects people in sub-Saharan Africa—and the most deadly. Scholars now want to know how widespread the parasite was in the ancient world. The new evidence also provides scientists with more information about how the disease has evolved."
We haven't gotten these ancient mtDna results have we?
Anyway, although I remember a pretty recent paper on some remains with leprosy being found in northern or northeastern Europe (was it Poland?), the incidence of malaria would no doubt have been higher in more southern climes with a longer and hotter summer season given the spread by mosquitoes.
The higher rate of exposure of some southern European populations to these kinds of diseases, and the subsequent ramping up of the immune system to deal with it was listed as a possible reason for the higher rates of autoimmune disorders in Italians, and on a south/north cline.
I think there's more to it than that, but I can see that as a factor. See:
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep32513