1. Pre-Columbian tuberculosis in Northern Chile: Molecular and skeletal evidence
- Author
-
Wilmar L. Salo, Arthur C. Aufderheide, Todd A. Holcomb, and Bernardo Arriaza
- Subjects
DNA, Bacterial ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Tuberculosis ,Paleopathology ,Vertebral lesion ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Prevalence ,Disease ,Disease cluster ,Bone and Bones ,Tuberculosis, Osteoarticular ,Mycobacterium tuberculosis ,Internal medicine ,Humans ,Medicine ,Base sequence ,Chile ,History, Ancient ,History, 15th Century ,Base Sequence ,biology ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,History, Medieval ,Surgery ,History, 16th Century ,Anthropology ,Female ,Anatomy ,business - Abstract
Analysis of 483 skeletons from Arica (Chile) and review of mummy dissection records demonstrates an overall 1% prevalence rate for tuberculosis between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1500. Tuberculosis cases cluster in the period A.D. 500-1000 which correlates with fully agropastoral societies. Considering only these agropastoral societies, about 2% of their members show tuberculosis lesions. A segment of DNA unique to Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified in an extract from the vertebral lesion of a 12-year-old girl with Pott's disease from about A.D. 1000, establishing the pre-Columbian presence of tuberculosis with the most specific evidence currently available.
- Published
- 1995