Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
7
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
An identified case of poliomyelitis: contribution to diagnosis in ancient human remains Susana Gómez-González, Laura González-Garrido, Laura Rodríguez, Miriam Serralvo-González, José Manuel Gonzalo-Orden, Sofia N. Wasterlain Anthropological Science, 2024 This article describes the skeletal remains of a 20th-century individual diagnosed with poliomyelitis in childhood who suffered from atrophy and muscle weakness as an adult. The study provides a detailed analysis of both the primary effects of polio in the skeleton and the secondary effects across a lifetime, and contributes to the future identification of this pathology in osteoarchaeological assemblages. A skeleton of an 82-year-old male with poliomyelitis, from Tierra de la Reina, León (Spain) was submitted to bone densitometry, morphological, metric, cross-sectional, and palaeopathological analyses. Conventional X-rays and computed tomography scans were also performed. Skeletal alterations were categorized as directly and indirectly related to polio. The latter were probably acquired during life, resulting from mobility problems, malposition, and/or advanced age. Discrepancies in size, primarily related to polio, were observed between the right and left sides of the skeleton, with the left side being smaller and more gracile. However, while the asymmetry of the upper limbs is mainly in robustness, in the lower limbs the differences are in both robustness and length. This paper illustrates the skeletal alterations that may be present with poliomyelitis, demonstrating the complexity of diagnosing this pathology in an individual who lived a long life. In fact, many of the observed alterations can be found in other pathological conditions. Therefore, it is concluded that extreme caution be taken when analysing archaeological skeletal remains that are not as complete and well-preserved as this individual. The present work contributes to the diagnosis of poliomyelitis in human remains and underscores its impact in human history. Destructive methods were not authorized; medical records were no longer available. In the future, 3D reconstruction analysis/micro-computed tomography may add new and valuable information.
Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes Saskia Pfrengle, Judith Neukamm, Meriam Guellil, Marcel Keller, Martyna Molak, Charlotte Avanzi, Alena Kushniarevich, Núria Montes, Gunnar U. Neumann, Ella Reiter, Rezeda I. Tukhbatova, Nataliya Y. Berezina, Alexandra P. Buzhilova, Dmitry S. Korobov, Stian Suppersberger Hamre, Vitor M. J. Matos, Maria T. Ferreira, Laura González-Garrido, Sofia N. Wasterlain, Célia Lopes, Ana Luisa Santos, Nathalie Antunes-Ferreira, Vitória Duarte, Ana Maria Silva, Linda Melo, Natasa Sarkic, Lehti Saag, Kristiina Tambets, Philippe Busso, Stewart T. Cole, Alexei Avlasovich, Charlotte A. Roberts, Alison Sheridan, Craig Cessford, John Robb, Johannes Krause, Christiana L. Scheib, Sarah A. Inskip, Verena J. Schuenemann BMC Biology, 2021 BackgroundHansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent,Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease’s complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least fourM. lepraelineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period.ResultsHere, we reconstructed 19 ancientM. lepraegenomes to further investigateM. leprae’sgenetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancientM. lepraegenomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography ofM. lepraeand reveal a particularly highM. lepraediversity in European medieval leprosaria.ConclusionsOur findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity ofM. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease’s global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancientM. lepraegenomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy’s global history and can contribute to current models ofM. leprae’s worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions.
Congenital syphilis or mercury treatment: Dental alterations in a twelfth-or thirteenth-century child from medinaceli, soria, spain Susana Gómez-González, Consuelo Roca de Togores Muñoz, Laura González-Garrido Homo, 2020 Syphilis, together with its variant congenital syphilis, is a disease caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum. This paper documents possible new skeletal evidence for congenital syphilis from the Medieval Era (twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE) burial site of Medinaceli in the Province of Soria in North-Central Spain. What is involved is dental alteration due to congenital syphilis, mercury treatment, or a combination of both. This study focuses on the hypoplastic dental changes observed in a child approximately eight years of age. Only a fragmented skull with left maxilla and the left side of the mandible were preserved. Macroscopic analysis, X-rays, computerized tomography (CT) and mercury detection analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques were used to observe dental abnormalities. In addition to extensive caries in the upper second deciduous molar, pulpo-alveolar lesions and facial alterations were observed. The absence of the rest of the skeleton tends to make a diagnosis of congenital syphilis difficult. However, the dental stigmata observed do permit a reasonable diagnosis.
