Approaching ancient disease from a One Health perspective: Interdisciplinary review for the investigation of zoonotic brucellosis

Abstract

Today, brucellosis is the most common global bacterial zoonosis, bringing with it a range of significant health and economic consequences, yet it is rarely identified from the archaeological record. Detection and understanding of past zoonoses could be improved by triangulating evidence and proxies generated through different approaches. The complex socioecological systems that support zoonoses involve humans, animals, and pathogens interacting within specific environmental and cultural contexts, and as such, there is a diversity of potential datasets that can be targeted. To capture this, in this paper, we consider how to approach the study of zoonotic brucellosis in the past from a One Health perspective, one which explicitly acknowledges the health link between people, animals, and environments (both physical and cultural). One Health research is explicitly interdisciplinary and conceptually moves away from an anthropocentric approach, allowing the component parts to be considered in holistic and integrated ways to deliver more comprehensive understanding. To this end, in this paper, we review the methods, selected evidence, and potential for past brucellosis identification and understanding, focussing on osteological markers in humans and animals, historical, biomolecular, and epidemiological approaches. We also present an agenda and potential for future research.

Host Diversity and Origin of Zoonoses: The Ancient and the New

“…Analysis of vertebral lesions and pathological changes described in a 2.4-2.8 million-year-old male skeleton of Australopithecus africanus from South Africa were interpreted as resulting from initial phases of brucellosis [43]. This disease is an example of human and domestic animal paleopathology studies suggesting brucellosis in ancient bone remains, with most cases involving adult male skeletal individuals showing lumbar vertebrae and sacroiliac joints involved [44], evidence which combined with ancient DNA analysis by PCR have confirmed the presence of Brucella DNA (reviewed in [45]). As discussed above, DNA detection of Brucella DNA has been critical in confirming brucellosis in ancient human remains when paleopathology initially suggested tuberculosis.…”

Herding Cats

“…Interactive socioecological systems giving rise to zoonoses (infectious diseases shared among different species) involve humans, animals, and pathogens in specific environments. Archaeological applications of the One Health perspective (Bendrey et al 2019) acknowledge this essential link in an interdisciplinary setting. Their breaking with the anthropocentric approach and considering components in a holistic and integrated way is comparable to the endeavours of animal studies in humanities.…”

New insights into the spatial organization, stratigraphy and human occupations of the Aceramic Neolithic at Ganj Dareh, Iran

“…In total, while 41 individuals were reported in preliminary excavation reports [ 30 , 31 ], mostly from burials, Merrett’s exhaustive analysis of the human remains from Ganj Dareh [ 77 ] identified a total of 116 distinct individuals represented by as little as single elements to nearly complete skeletons. Some of the buried individuals bear evidence of cranial deformation [ 78 – 80 ], while overall health conditions appear to have been rather good, with low incidence of cavities and occasional traces of porotic hyperostosis, likely caused by zoonotic brucellosis caused by sustained contact with ovicaprids [ 77 , 81 , 82 ]. Recent analyses of stable carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotopes on 20 individuals indicate that the Neolithic occupants of Ganj Dareh all shared a diet largely based on C 3 plants, that subadults may have been weaned using supplement with distinct carbon values and that one of the older male individuals may have been a transhumant shepherd [ 83 ].…”