Molecular Identification of Falciparum Malaria and Human Tuberculosis Co-Infections in Mummies from the Fayum Depression (Lower Egypt)
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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 3(rd) 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.
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According to radiocarbon dates, the samples can be grouped into three time periods: Pre-Ptolemaic (New Kingdom, Third Intermediate Period and Late Period), Ptolemaic and Roman Period.
“According to the radiocarbon dates (Supplementary Data 1, see also ref. 18), the samples can be grouped into three time periods: Pre-Ptolemaic (New Kingdom, Third Intermediate Period and Late Period), Ptolemaic and Roman Period.”
From Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods (2017) · cites this paper as [18]
Table 1 (Introduction; page unavailable) gives radiocarbon dates for mummies assigned to the Third Intermediate, Late, Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It does not date any of its samples to the New Kingdom or group samples into the three stated categories; the Materials and Methods instead describe this study’s samples as spanning the Third Intermediate to Roman periods. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Schuenemann, V. J., Peltzer, A., Welte, B., van Pelt, W. P., Molak, M., Wang, C.-C., Furtwängler, A., Urban, C., Reiter, E., Nieselt, K., et al. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms15694 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Lalremruata, A., Ball, M., Bianucci, R., Welte, B., Nerlich, A. G., Kun, J. F. J., & Pusch, C. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Pusch, Carsten M.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2013-04-02
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e60307
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3614933
- OpenAlex
- W2012782197
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 68.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Paleopathology and ancient diseases
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Medicine Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Egypt and Archaeology
- Keywords
- Plasmodium falciparum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, ancient mummies, Fayum Depression, IS6110 insertion sequence, ancient Egypt, malaria transmission, Ptolemaic period
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Antigens, Protozoan, Bacterial Proteins, Base Sequence, Child, Child, Preschool, Egypt, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Membrane Proteins, Middle Aged, Molecular Sequence Data, Mummies, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Plasmodium falciparum, Tuberculosis, Protozoan Proteins, Sequence Alignment, Malaria, Falciparum, Young Adult, Coinfection
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