Leprosy remains a medieval - BBC

Recovery leprosy pathogen strain of medieval scholars led to unexpected discoveries. Scientists were able to see how the strain is varied until the present time, and to learn the cause of the end of an epidemic of leprosy in Europe.

Madagascan proverb says:

«leper doubly unhappy:
in life – different house after death – different grave».

For centuries, leprosy, better known as “leprosy” was considered one of the most dangerous diseases. Is mentioned in the Bible and several ancient Egyptian papyrus, it has been widely spread in medieval Europe. Some researchers are of the opinion that leprosy is more feared than the plague. It should be noted that

treatment of leprosy did not budge, and the lepers became outcasts until his death. They often hung bells, and in many countries in the huge amounts of special detention centers were built for patients – a leper colony. For example, in some countries, leprosy was sick every thirty resident.

Leprosy forked and grown old

Leprosy is aged for several centuries, and possibly bifurcated. In India, the skeleton of the age of about four thousand years, with traces of the disease … ?

disease was raging in Europe until the XVI century, when the number of lepers by unknown to science until recently reasons fell sharply. A
in 1873 by the famous Norwegian physician Gerhard Hansen was the causative agent of leprosy is open – the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, also known as “Hansen’s bacillus.” To find effective drugs and to develop a comprehensive methodology for controlling the disease was only in the 50s of XX century. Despite this, the world each year is fixed approximately 225,000 cases of leprosy.

Back to the study of the phenomenon of leprosy decided a group of scientists from the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tübingen Eberhard Karl , which is one of the oldest educational institutions in Germany. They are also joined by colleagues from the Institute for Global Health , Lausanne, Switzerland. Together they decided to learn how to change the agent of leprosy – the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae – over the last millennium.

The results of the study can be found in the latest issue of the prestigious scientific journal Science .

to the study of leprosy pathogen scientists pushed the unexpected discovery that made their colleague – Dr. Johannes Krause. He studied the DNA from the tooth woman who died of leprosy in 1300 in one of the Danish leprosariums. Krause hoped to find out the extent to which a gene is preserved, “Hansen sticks”: according to initial estimates, it had to be about 1-2%. However, the results exceeded all expectations:

bacterial DNA remained at 40%, which was due to the presence in colonic bacteria cell membrane, rich in fatty acids, water repellent. In addition, the samples did not differ from the present Mycobacterium leprae .

Illegal drug

returns on vessels

Thalidomide – a drug that had provoked the birth of tens of thousands of disabled children in 1960 – again became the hero of news … ?

Such a pleasant surprise for the scientists pushed them to the next step: to gather and discuss the “pros” and “cons»,

they decided to try to restore the complete genome of the medieval “Hansen sticks” and see how it has changed since the time .

For this difficult task they had to extract DNA from the bones and teeth of five lepers living on the territory of countries such as the UK, Sweden and Denmark in the X – XIV centuries.

Also, scientists have succeeded in extracting DNA from paired bases : the disposal of researchers found about a hundred samples of each of the 3 million base pairs. The next step was to come scholars sequencing – determining the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA, and hence the “reconstruction” of the medieval bacterium. It is worth noting that the “wand Hansen’s” impossible to grow in the laboratory, and the old strain infecting people in the modern scientific community is considered to be unethical. Therefore, researchers usually infect mice, armadillos and leprosy. However,

this time the number of available genetic material allowed to do without the help of our little brothers.

a result, in the disposal of scientists turned 16 modern and ancient genomes of leprosy, they are completely deciphered as much as 5 strains of the disease. Now it was possible to compare the samples.

As a result, it became clear that the genome of Mycobacterium leprae for 1000 was only 800 mutations. It turns out that a strain of leprosy has not changed since the Middle Ages.

did Columbus brought syphilis

Syphilis to Europe privz all-did Columbus discovered America and Europe who taught smoking tobacco. The results of phylogenetic analysis … ?

This discovery suggests that leprosy is no longer raging in Europe, not because improved social conditions or disease gave way to tuberculosis and bubonic plague. Rather,

people simply developed a relative immunity to the disease. In addition, in medieval Europe formed the ideal setting for an intense natural selection:

high prevalence of leprosy and the isolation of lepers in the leper colony. Because of this, most of those who were most vulnerable to the disease, simply died, leaving no descendants. It is likely that there is still rampant in North and South American strains of leprosy came there it is from Europe. Moreover, the researchers found that

modern genome of leprosy, a sample of which was taken from the Middle East, is almost identical to the medieval.

This suggests that either the Europeans during the Crusades brought to his leprosy, or the opposite happened.

Here is what “the Newspaper” the doctor Johannes Krause: “It’s incredible! We did not anticipate that we will succeed. Five years ago, the work done over the past year and a half work represents something of a kind of fiction. Now we are facing a dual challenge: on the one hand, we want to delve into the “sticks Hansen,” and on the other – to try to recreate a medieval strain of bubonic plague or some other disease ».

Be that as it may, the results of the described studies allow us to look optimistically to the future. It is possible not only to trace the development of strains of other diseases the same way, but to try to extend the time frame, absorbed in ancient times. Also mastered techniques will help scientists find a vaccine for advanced disease, such as cancer.