Parasite Eggs in Medieval Winchester

Pike, Andrew R.; Biddle, Martin

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00032774

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The first findings of helminth eggs in sediments recovered from deposits, latrines, and structures-like were recorded by Szidat (1944), Taylor (1955), Grzywinsky (1960), Over (1962, 1966), Specht (1963), Pike and Biddle (1966), and Pike (1967Pike ( , 1968, mainly of the medieval period. The findings show that the major parasitic association found throughout time has been Ascaris sp.…”

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confidence: 95%

“…-Trichuris sp. (Taylor 1955, Jansen & Over 1966, Pike & Biddle 1966, Pike 1967, Wilke & Hall 1975, Wilson & Rackham 1976, Schia 1979, Greig, 1981, Jones 1982, Bouchet 1991a,b, 1995a,b, Han et al 2003, Fernandes et al 2005. A. lumbricoides and A. suum eggs are undistinguishable (Loreille & Bouchet 2003), but the eggs of Trichuris species have morphometric patterns that allow specific diagnosis.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Paleoparasitological remains revealed by seven historic contexts from "Place d'Armes", Namur, Belgium

Rocha

Harter-Lailheugue

Bailly

et al. 2006

Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz

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Paleoparasitological remains revealed by seven historic contexts from "Place d'Armes", Namur, Belgium

Rocha

Harter-Lailheugue

Bailly

et al. 2006

Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz

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“…Archaeological evidence for the presence of Trichuris in Europe occurs in the form of its eggs in coprolites, cess and occupation deposits from a variety of sites, such as the Bronze Age settlement of Brean Down, England (Jones 1990), Iron Age salt mines at Hallstatt and Hallein in Austria (Aspöck et al 1974), the Roman-period forts of Bearsden in Scotland (Knights et al 1983) and Carlisle in England (Jones & Hutchinson 1991), and from urban contexts such as late Saxon London (de Rouffignac 1991), Viking Age and medieval York (Jones 1983(Jones , 1985, and medieval Winchester (Taylor 1955, Pike & Biddle 1966. Other records have come from preserved human remains such as the Danish Iron Age 'bog bodies', Grauballe Man and Tollund Man (Helbaek 1958), and Lindow Man in England (Jones 1986).…”

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confidence: 99%

New evidence for the antiquity of the intestinal parasiteTrichuris(whipworm) in Europe

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The whipworm, Trichuris trichiura L., is one of the most common human intestinal parasites worldwide, yet little is known of its origin and global spread. Archaeological records for this nematode have all been of Neolithic or later date, suggesting a possible association between the spread of pastoral farming and human acquisition of whipworm. This paper reports the discovery of eggs of the genus Trichuris in late Mesolithic deposits from south Wales, indicating that whipworm was present in Europe before the arrival of agriculture. This raises the possibility that human infection by Trichuris arose through contact with wild animals in parts of the landscape frequented by both human and animal groups.

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“…Dicrocoelium was also identified in sediments associated with an 11th Century latrine in England 56 . Recently in Sardinia antibodies against Dicrocoelium dendriticum were identified in a large number of sheep randomly chosen, indicating the diffusion of this parasite in the island 57 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Metagenomics and microscope revealed T. trichiura and other intestinal parasites in a cesspit of an Italian nineteenth century aristocratic palace

Chessa

Murgia

Sias

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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this study evidenced the presence of parasites in a cesspit of an aristocratic palace of nineteenth century in Sardinia (Italy) by the use of classical paleoparasitological techniques coupled with nextgeneration sequencing. Parasite eggs identified by microscopy included helminth genera pathogenic for humans and animals: the whipworm Trichuris sp., the roundworm Ascaris sp., the flatworm Dicrocoelium sp. and the fish tapeworm Diphyllobothrium sp. In addition, 18S rRNA metabarcoding and metagenomic sequencing analysis allowed the first description in Sardinia of aDNA of the human specific T. trichiura species and Ascaris genus. Their presence is important for understanding the health conditions, hygiene habits, agricultural practices and the diet of the local inhabitants in the period under study. Paleoparasitology, the study of ancient parasites recovered from archaeological sites, is a branch of paleopathology important to understand the health conditions and lifestyle of past populations 1-5. Classical paleoparasitology consist on the rehydration and microscopic analysis of coprolites, latrine sediments, pelvic soil of skeletons or intestines of mummified bodies, followed by identification of recovered parasite eggs basing on morphometry and other characteristics (e.g. opercula, caps and surface structures) 6. With this approach, since the first description in 1910 of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in a renal tissue of an Egyptian mummy 7 , helminth eggs have been identified in coprolites, latrines, mummified bodies, and archaeological contests all over the world 4,8-15. Despite microscopy is still a method of choice for paleoparasitological studies, it allows to identify the parasites mostly to genus level, as the eggs of related species are often indistinguishable 5,16,17. For a better taxonomic identification, immunological, hybridization and molecular techniques were developed and used in combination with classical methods 18-21. Molecular paleoparasitological studies are mainly based on PCR amplification and Sanger sequencing of short barcoding loci as 18S rDNA, mostly using primers for specific parasite taxa 21-24. The recent developed next generation sequencing (NGS) allows to identify multiple taxonomic groups at the same time by direct shotgun sequencing of DNA extracted from the samples (metagenomics) or by PCR-based metabarcoding of target genes 25-29 , but the application of this technique to paleoparasitology is so far limited to few studies 22,30,31. In Europe, human intestinal parasites were described from Palaeolithic until the middle of 1900 17 , but in Sardinia

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Parasite Eggs in Medieval Winchester

Cited by 16 publications

References 2 publications

Paleoparasitological remains revealed by seven historic contexts from "Place d'Armes", Namur, Belgium

Paleoparasitological remains revealed by seven historic contexts from "Place d'Armes", Namur, Belgium

New evidence for the antiquity of the intestinal parasiteTrichuris(whipworm) in Europe

Metagenomics and microscope revealed T. trichiura and other intestinal parasites in a cesspit of an Italian nineteenth century aristocratic palace

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