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

Buckley

Miszkiewicz

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders that are found in high prevalences in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These diseases provide varying levels of resistance to malaria and are proposed to have emerged as an adaptive response to malaria in these regions. The transition to agriculture in the Holocene has been suggested to have influenced the selection for thalassemia in the Mediterranean as land clearance for farming encouraged interaction between Anopheles mosquitos, the vectors for malaria, and human groups. Here we document macroscopic and microscopic skeletal evidence for the presence of thalassemia in both hunter-gatherer (Con Co Ngua) and early agricultural (Man Bac) populations in northern Vietnam. Firstly, our findings demonstrate that thalassemia emerged prior to the transition to agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia, from at least the early seventh millennium BP, contradicting a long-held assumption that agriculture was the main driver for an increase in malaria in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we describe evidence for significant malarial burden in the region during early agriculture. We argue that the introduction of farming into the region was not the initial driver of the selection for thalassemia, as it may have been in other regions of the world.

Section: Paleopathological Differential Diagnosis the Paleopathologisupporting

confidence: 66%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia

Buckley

Miszkiewicz

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…One outcome, particularly relevant here, is the apparent emergence or introduction of certain infectious diseases in MSEA with the development and/or intensification of farming practices (Oxenham et al, 2005;Tayles & Buckley, 2004;Vlok et al, 2020), although it appears that one particular disease, malaria, was a significant burden prior to the adoption of farming (Vlok et al, 2021). (Fu, 2002;Matsumura et al, 2017;Oxenham et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Biocultural Context Of Pre-neolithic Vietnammentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydatid disease (Echinococcosis granulosis) diagnosis from skeletal osteolytic lesions in an early seventh‐millennium BP forager community from preagricultural northern Vietnam

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

Buckley

Domett

et al. 2021

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Objectives: Con Co Ngua is a complex, sedentary forager site from northern Vietnam dating to the early seventh millennium BP. Prior research identified a calcified Echinococcus granulosis cyst, which causes hydatid disease. Osteolytic lesions consistent with hydatid disease were also present in this individual and others. Hydatid disease is observed in high frequencies in pastoralists, and its presence in a hunter-gatherer community raises questions regarding human-animal interaction prior to farming. The objective of this article is to identify and describe the epidemiology of hydatid disease in the human skeletal assemblage at Con Co Ngua.Materials and methods: One hundred and fifty-five individuals were macroscopically assessed for lesions. Of these, eight individuals were radiographed. Hydatid disease was diagnosed using a new threshold criteria protocol derived from clinical literature, which prioritizes lesions specific to the parasite.Results: Twenty-two individuals (14.2%) presented with osteolytic lesions consistent with hydatid disease, affecting the distal humerus, proximal femur and forearm, and pelvis. Seven individuals radiographed (4.5%) had multilocular cystic lesions strongly diagnostic for hydatid disease. All probable cases had lesions of the distal humerus.The remaining lesions were macroscopically identical to those radiographed and were considered possible cases.Discussion: While hydatid disease has previously been found in pre-agricultural communities, the high prevalence at Con Co Ngua is non-incidental. We propose that the presence of wild canids and management of wild buffalo and deer increased the risk of disease transmission. These findings further reveal subsistence complexity among hunter-gatherers living millennia prior to the adoption of farming in Southeast Asia.

The role of dietary calcium in the etiology of childhood rickets in the past and the present

Snoddy

Niranjan

et al. 2022

American J Hum Biol

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For more than two centuries, lack of sunlight has been understood to cause vitamin D deficiency and documented as a primary cause of rickets. As such, evidence of rickets in the archeological record has been used as a proxy for vitamin D status in past individuals and populations. In the last decade, a clinical global consensus has emerged wherein it is recognized that dietary calcium deficiency also plays a role in the manifestation of rickets and classic skeletal deformities may not form if dietary calcium is normal even if vitamin D is deficient. This disease is now clinically called "nutritional rickets" to reflect the fact that rickets can take calcium deficiency-predominant or vitamin D deficiency-predominant forms. However, there are currently no paleopathological studies wherein dietary calcium deficiency is critically considered a primary etiology of the disease. We review here the interplay of calcium, vitamin D, and phosphorous in bone homeostasis, examine the role of dietary calcium in human health, and critically explore the clinical literature on calcium deficiency-predominant rickets. Finally, we report a case of rickets from the late Formative Period ($2500-1500 years ago) of the Atacama Desert and argue the disease in this infant is likely an example of calcium deficiencypredominant rickets. We conclude that most archeological cases of rickets are the result of multiple micronutrient deficiencies that compound to manifest in macroscopic skeletal lesions. For clinicians, these factors are important for implementing best treatment practice, and for paleopathologists they are necessary for appropriate interpretation of health in past communities.