Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present

Baker, Brenda; Crane-Kramer, Gillian; Dee, Michael W.; Gregoricka, Lesley A.; Henneberg, Maciej; Lee, Christine; Lukehart, Sheila A.; Mabey, David; Roberts, Charlotte A.; Stodder, Ann L. W.; Stone, Anne C.; Winingear, S.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23988

Cited by 40 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 300 publications

(419 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The dashed branch and faded text depicts the extrapolated position of ancient genome 133. www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ three treponemal pathogens, and while they share a common origin, there is no support for yaws as the ancestor. Dispersal of yaws in both humans and non-human primates, however, is still thought compatible with it being an heirloom disease 58 : this would push emergence of the pathogenic treponemal cluster far back into the Pleistocene, leaving open multiple models compatible with an early evolution in the Americas 58 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15th century Europe

Giffin

Lankapalli

Sabin

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Developments in techniques for identification of pathogen DNA in archaeological samples can expand our resolution of disease detection. Our application of a non-targeted molecular screening tool for the parallel detection of pathogens in historical plague victims from post-medieval Lithuania revealed the presence of more than one active disease in one individual. In addition to Yersinia pestis, we detected and genomically characterized a septic infection of Treponema pallidum pertenue, a subtype of the treponemal disease family recognised as the cause of the tropical disease yaws. Our finding in northern europe of a disease that is currently restricted to equatorial regions is interpreted within an historical framework of intercontinental trade and potential disease movements. Through this we offer an alternative hypothesis for the history and evolution of the treponemal diseases, and posit that yaws be considered an important contributor to the sudden epidemic of late 15 th century europe that is widely ascribed to syphilis. Ancient DNA analyses have the potential to reveal history that is hidden within archaeological samples. Increased sequencing capacity made available by technological innovations has translated into concomitant increases in temporal depth for human genomes 1 as well as those from commensal 2 and invasive 3 microbes. Genome-level analyses of ancient bacteria and viruses have revealed unexpected patterns of pathogen dispersal in the past, and have prompted discussants to revise long standing theories about the evolution of some of our most well-studied diseases such as plague 4 , tuberculosis 5 and smallpox 6 to name but a few. Genomic investigations of ancient microbes have largely been made possible via selective enrichment for DNA of a target organism. By design, this process requires a priori knowledge of a taxon of interest, which is typically acquired through either initial molecular screening 7 , inference from historical context 8 , diagnostic gross pathology 9 , or combinations thereof 5. More recent approaches have explored the analytical resolution of broad multi-species enrichments 10 or fully non-targeted approaches 11,12 for pathogen detection. Though demonstration of these techniques is currently restricted to single microbial organisms, they indeed offer the flexibility to detect co-morbidities on historical timescales, thus giving a glimpse into past disease ecology. Here we present the application of an ancient pathogen detection method to identify co-morbidities in archaeological specimens associated with an historical epidemic. The influence of co-infections as exacerbating the progression of certain diseases is an established phenomenon 13,14 and has been proposed to partially account for plague's unusually high mortality in the past 15,16 , its potential influence on selective mortality 16 , as well as its persistence and subsequent rapid extinction in post-medieval Europe 8. As a first investigation into the existence of co-morbidities in post-medieval plague victims we a...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15th century Europe

Giffin

Lankapalli

Sabin

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…and Cook advocated such criteria in their book, as do Baker et al (2020). In the Snoddy et.al (2018) .…”

Section: Recording Methods For Abnormal Variation (Pathological Changes)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Probable Cases of Infection with Treponema pallidum during the Neolithic Period in Northern Vietnam (ca. 2000–1500 B.C.)

Vlok¹,

Oxenham²,

Domett³

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Skeletal evidence of two probable cases of treponematosis, caused by infection with the bacterium Treponema pallidum, from the northern Vietnamese early Neolithic site of Man Bac (1906–1523 cal B.C.) is described. The presence of nodes of subperiosteal new bone directly associated with superficial focal cavitations in a young adult male and a seven-year- old child are strongly diagnostic for treponemal disease. Climatic and epidemiological contexts suggest yaws (Treponema pallidum pertenue) as the most likely causative treponeme. This evidence is the oldest discovered in the Asia-Pacific region and is the first well-established pre-Columbian example in this region in terms of diagnosis and secure dating. The coastal ecology, sedentary settlement, and high fertility at the site of Man Bac all provided a biosocial context conducive to the spread of treponemal disease among inhabitants of the site. Co-morbidity with scurvy in both individuals demonstrates that malnutrition during the agricultural transition may have exacerbated the expression of treponematosis in this community. Man Bac is a site of great regional importance owing to its role during the Neolithic transition of Mainland Southeast Asia. During this transition, approximately 4,000 years ago, farmers migrating from southern China into Southeast Asia influenced a number of changes in subsistence and demography and potentially introduced new infectious diseases such as treponematosis to indigenous forager communities. The findings presented here may encourage reevaluation of existing Southeast Asian skeletal samples and demonstrate the importance of using weighted diagnostic criteria for future reporting of treponematosis cases. Hai trường hợp nhiều khả năng mắc bệnh ghẻ cóc do nhiễm vi khuẩn Treponema pallidum, thuộc di chỉ Mán Bạc sơ kì đá mới Việt Nam (cal 1906–1523 B.C.) được mô tả trên bằng chứng di cốt. Sự có mặt của các hạt xương mới dưới màng xương trực tiếp liên quan đến các lỗ ổ bề mặt ở một nam trẻ tuổi trưởng thành và một trẻ em 7 tuổi là chẩn đoán nhiều khả năng cho bệnh này. Bối cảnh khí hậu và dịch tễ học cho thấy bệnh ghẻ cóc do nhiễm xoắn khuẩn Treponema pallidum pertenue là nguyên nhân phổ biến nhất. Bằng chứng trên được phát hiện muộn nhất ở khu vực Châu Á-Thái Bình Dương và là một ví dụ điển hình đầu tiên giai đoạn tiền Columbia trong khu vực này dựa vào chẩn đoán và định niên đại chính xác. Sinh thái biển, lối sống ít di động, và tỷ lệ sinh sản cao ở di chỉ Mán Bạc, tất cả đã tạo ra sự tương tác giữa các yếu tố sinh học và xã hội thuận lợi cho việc lây lan bệnh ghẻ cóc giữa các cư dân thuộc di chỉ này. Cùng với đó là sự mắc bệnh thiếu vitamin C (scurvy) ở cả hai cá thể trên chỉ ra rằng sự suy dinh dưỡng trong suốt quá trình chuyển tiếp nông nghiệp có thể trầm trọng hơn và biểu hiện bệnh ghẻ cóc ở cộng đồng này. Mán Bạc là một di chỉ vùng quan trọng bởi vì nó nằm trong ranh giới giai đoạn chuyển tiếp Đá Mới của Đông Nam Á lục địa. Trong suốt bước chuyển này, khoảng 4000 năm cách đây, các cư dân nông nghiệp di cư từ miền nam Trung Quốc vào Đông Nam Á đã ảnh hưởng nhiều thay đổi trong phương thức sinh kế, dân số, và mang theo bệnh nhiễm trùng mới tiềm ẩn như là bệnh ghẻ cóc vào các cộng đồng nông nghiệp bản địa . Các phát hiện trình bày trên đây hi vọng sẽ là khởi đầu đánh giá lại về sự tồn tại các di cốt Đông Nam Á và minh họa tầm quan trọng của việc sử dụng tiêu chí chẩn đoán tin cậy về các trường hợp bệnh ghẻ cóc cho nghiên cứu tiếp theo.

show abstract

“…Emancipation of slaves in North America brought an end to the political imprimatur of enslavement and extraction of slave labor and lives, and archaeologists have been able to highlight the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans in the periods that followed, from Texas (Franklin and Lee 2019Lee , 2020Wilkie 2019) to Massachusetts (Battle-Baptiste 2011; Lee 2019; Paynter and Battle-Baptiste 2019). However, violence and disenfranchisement of the rights of citizenship in the United States-and obstacles to African Americans having access to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"-persisted throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s ( Barnes 2011;Botwick 2018).…”

Section: Inequality Vulnerability and Effects Of Marginalization Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Treponematosis ( Treponema pallidum subsp.?) and tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis ) are two infectious diseases that do have distinct osteological signatures and widespread distribution, and both are well documented in the Americas before contact (Baker et al 2020; Harper et al 2011; Powell and Cook 2005; Roberts and Buikstra 2003). These are chronic bacterial infections that could be maintained in smaller populations through carriers and affected individuals (Ortner and Putschar 1981; Powell and Cook 2005), emerging as major (or at least more visible) diseases when people began to settle into permanent villages with the transition to agriculture (Larsen 1994; Powell and Cook 2005; Roberts and Buikstra 2003).…”

Section: Paleopathology and Insights Into Ancient Human Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Archaeological Relevance during a Pandemic and What Comes After

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article emerged as the human species collectively have been experiencing the worst global pandemic in a century. With a long view of the ecological, economic, social, and political factors that promote the emergence and spread of infectious disease, archaeologists are well positioned to examine the antecedents of the present crisis. In this article, we bring together a variety of perspectives on the issues surrounding the emergence, spread, and effects of disease in both the Americas and Afro-Eurasian contexts. Recognizing that human populations most severely impacted by COVID-19 are typically descendants of marginalized groups, we investigate pre- and postcontact disease vectors among Indigenous and Black communities in North America, outlining the systemic impacts of diseases and the conditions that exacerbate their spread. We look at how material culture both reflects and changes as a result of social transformations brought about by disease, the insights that paleopathology provides about the ancient human condition, and the impacts of ancient globalization on the spread of disease worldwide. By understanding the differential effects of past epidemics on diverse communities and contributing to more equitable sociopolitical agendas, archaeology can play a key role in helping to pursue a more just future.

show abstract

Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present

Cited by 40 publications

References 300 publications

A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15th century Europe

A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15th century Europe

Two Probable Cases of Infection with Treponema pallidum during the Neolithic Period in Northern Vietnam (ca. 2000–1500 B.C.)

Finding Archaeological Relevance during a Pandemic and What Comes After

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About