Evidence of a Louse-Borne Outbreak Involving Typhus in Douai, 1710-1712 during the War of Spanish Succession

Abstract

BackgroundThe new field of paleomicrobiology allows past outbreaks to be identified by testing dental pulp of human remains with PCR.MethodsWe identified a mass grave in Douai, France dating from the early XVIIIth century. This city was besieged during the European war of Spanish succession. We tested dental pulp from 1192 teeth (including 40 from Douai) by quantitative PCR (qPCR) for R. prowazekii and B. quintana. We also used ultra-sensitive suicide PCR to detect R. prowazekii and genotyped positive samples.Results and DiscussionIn the Douai remains, we identified one case of B. quintana infection (by qPCR) and R. prowazekii (by suicide PCR) in 6/21 individuals (29%). The R. prowazekii was genotype B, a genotype previously found in a Spanish isolate obtained in the first part of the XXth century.ConclusionLouse-borne outbreaks were raging during the XVIIIth century; our results support the hypothesis that typhus was imported into Europe by Spanish soldiers from America.

High Throughput, Multiplexed Pathogen Detection Authenticates Plague Waves in Medieval Venice, Italy

“…The high throughput detection of seven pathogens was performed as previously described [13]. Briefly, DNA of Y. pestis , Bacillus anthracis (anthrax agent), Borrelia recurrentis (louse-borne relapsing fever agent), Bartonella quintana (trench fever agent), Rickettsia prowazekii (epidemic typhus agent), Salmonella enterica Typhi (typhoid fever agent) and poxvirus (smallpox agent) (Table) was detected with high throughput multiplexed real-time PCR.…”

Paleomicrobiology of Bartonella infections

“…In 1981, a mass grave dating back to the 18th century was discovered in Douai, northern France [32]. The disposition of corpses and the fact that they were young males suggested that these individuals were soldiers.…”

Plague Epidemics and Lice, Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…Total DNA was extracted by using an EZ1 automated extractor (QIAGEN, Courtaboeuf, France) and subjected to parallel real-time PCRs selective for the Y. pesti s pla gene, the Rickettsia prowazekii omp B gene, a Borrelia recurrentis noncoding genomic fragment, and the Bartonella quintana internal transcribed spacer. B. quintana PCR primers and probe have been shown to be specific for B. quintana ( 4 ). Primers and probe sequences and experimental conditions have been reported ( 4 ).…”

“…B. quintana PCR primers and probe have been shown to be specific for B. quintana ( 4 ). Primers and probe sequences and experimental conditions have been reported ( 4 ). Negative controls contained PCR buffer without DNA, as described ( 4 ).…”

“…Primers and probe sequences and experimental conditions have been reported ( 4 ). Negative controls contained PCR buffer without DNA, as described ( 4 ). Any amplification with a cycle threshold (C t ) <40 was regarded as positive.…”