Microscopic Evidence of Malaria Infection in Visceral Tissue from Medici Family, Italy.

Microscopy of mummified visceral tissue from a Medici family member in Italy identified a potential blood vessel containing erythrocytes. Giemsa staining, atomic force microscopy, and immunohistochemistry confirmed Plasmodium falciparum inside those erythrocytes. Our results indicate an ancient Mediterranean presence of P. falciparum, which remains responsible for most malaria deaths in Africa.

The elusive parasite: comparing macroscopic, immunological, and genomic approaches to identifying malaria in human skeletal remains from Sayala, Egypt (third to sixth centuries AD).

Although malaria is one of the oldest and most widely distributed diseases affecting humans, identifying and characterizing its presence in ancient human remains continue to challenge researchers. We attempted to establish a reliable approach to detecting malaria in human skeletons using multiple avenues of analysis: macroscopic observations, rapid diagnostic tests, and shotgun-capture sequencing techniques, to identify pathological changes, Plasmodium antigens, and Plasmodium DNA, respectively. Bone and tooth samples from ten individuals who displayed skeletal lesions associated with anaemia, from a site in southern Egypt (third to sixth centuries AD), were selected. Plasmodium antigens were detected in five of the ten bone samples, and traces of Plasmodium aDNA were detected in six of the twenty bone and tooth samples. There was relatively good synchronicity between the biomolecular findings, despite not being able to authenticate the results. This study highlights the complexity and limitations in the conclusive identification of the Plasmodium parasite in ancient human skeletons. Limitations regarding antigen and aDNA preservation and the importance of sample selection are at the forefront of the search for malaria in the past. We confirm that, currently, palaeopathological changes such as cribra orbitalia are not enough to be certain of the presence of malaria. While biomolecular methods are likely the best chance for conclusive identification, we were unable to obtain results which correspond to the current authentication criteria of biomolecules. This study represents an important contribution in the refinement of biomolecular techniques used; also, it raises new insight regarding the consistency of combining several approaches in the identification of malaria in past populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-021-01350-z.

Challenging definitions and diagnostic approaches for ancient rare diseases: The case of poliomyelitis.

OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to contribute to the definition of ancient rare diseases in skeletons displaying pathologies associated with paralysis. It uses a new suite of methods, which can be applied to challenging cases of possible paralysis in archaeologically-derived human skeletal material, specifically applied to the identification of poliomyelitis. MATERIALS: An adult male skeleton from Roman Halbturn, Austria. METHODS: Morphological and entheseal change analyses, CT scans, X-rays, cross-section morphology, and histology, alongside modern clinical, as well as historic, literature were used to discuss paralyses. RESULTS: The results suggest a diagnosis of poliomyelitis; now considered a rare disease, but perhaps ubiquitous in antiquity, thus complicating the definition of 'rare disease'. CONCLUSIONS: The integrated methodological procedures employed for this case constitutes a replicable and thorough approach to diagnosis, and explores the nature of ancient rare diseases. Due to the socio-environmental aspects of poliomyelitis transmission, it is likely that polio was likely not rare in the past. Therefore, the definition of 'rare diseases in the past' must include rarely occurring rarely diagnosed diseases due to biases and challenges within the archaeological and environmental record. SIGNIFICANCE: The developed suite of methods has not been applied to establish a diagnosis of polio in the past. LIMITATIONS: The individual considered in this study is fairly well-preserved; thus, this set of analyses may not be applicable to all remains where preservation is poor or highly fragmentary, and the discussion of rare diseases requires relatively secure diagnoses and context. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Large collections and series of skeletal human remains are recommended to develop definitive conclusions.