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Ancient skeleton reveals leprosy may have spread to Britain from Scandinavia
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
According to a new study, researchers in the United Kingdom have found evidence indicating that leprosy spread to England from Scandinavia in the 5th or 6th century.
Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study based its conclusion on the analysis of a skeleton found in Essex, England during the 1950s. The study noted that the bones of the skeleton, probably from a man in his 20s, show transformations consistent with leprosy, such as thinning of the toe bones and damage to the joints. Modern scientific methods applied by the scientists confirmed the man did have the disease and that he might have come from southern Scandinavia.
“Not all cases of leprosy can be identified by changes to the skeleton,” said study author Sonia Zakrzewski, an archeologist from the University of Southampton. “Some may leave no trace on the bones; others will affect bones in a similar way to other diseases. In these cases the only way to be sure is to use DNA fingerprinting, or other chemical markers characteristic of the leprosy bacillus.”
The scientists examined the skeleton for bacterial DNA and lipid biomarkers to verify the man had contracted leprosy, permitting them to conduct a detailed genetic review of the bacteria that caused his condition.
“Not every excavation yields good quality DNA, but in this case, leprosy DNA isolated from the skeleton was so good it enabled us to identify its strain,” said co-author Mike Taylor, a bioarchaeologist from the University of Surrey’s School of Biosciences and Medicine.
A different strain
The genetic analysis showed the leprosy strain identified on the skeleton belonged to the “3I lineage”, previously found in burials from Medieval Scandinavia and southern Britain. The researchers noted that this particular skeleton comes from much earlier than seen previously, dating from the 5th or 6th century.
Study author David Minnikin, an emeritus professor of microbial chemistry from the University of Birmingham, said fatty molecules from the leprosy bacteria indicated it was different from strains that appeared later in Europe.
“One class of the lipid biomarkers had distinct profiles that may distinguish these older leprosy cases from later Medieval examples,” he said.
The study team used a radioactive isotope analysis on the skeleton’s teeth to show he was most likely from northern Europe, Scandinavia in particular.
“This is exciting both for archaeologists and for microbiologists,” said study author Sarah Inskip, anarcheologist from Leiden University in the UK. “It helps us understand the spread of disease in the past, and also the evolution of different strains of disease, which might help us fight them in the future. We plan to carry out similar studies on skeletons from different locations to build up a more complete picture of the origins and early spread of this disease.”
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113390869/leprosy-spread-to-england-from-scandinavia-1500-years-ago-051415/
