A team of researchers from Hungary and the United Kingdom says tuberculosis was present in Europe as early as 7,000 years ago.
This colorized scanning electron micrograph shows Mycobacterium tuberculosis, gram-positive bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Image credit: Ray Butler / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The scientists examined seventy-one human skeletons from a 7,000-year-old site of Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa in the south of Hungary.
They found numerous cases of infections and metabolic diseases, and some skeletons showed signs of Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteopathy and therefore potentially tuberculosis.
The team then focused on one skeleton in particular to verify this hypothesis, and analyzed the ancient DNA and lipids from its bones to do so.
Both tests confirmed the presence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex associated with tuberculosis.
“This is one of the earliest known cases of hypertrophic pulmonary osteopathy and tuberculosis to date, and helps shed new light on this European community in prehistoric times,” said Dr Muriel Masson from the University of Szeged, Hungary, who is the lead author of the paper appearing in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.
“This is a crucial find. It is not only the earliest occurrence of fully-developed hypertrophic pulmonary osteopathy on an adult skeleton to date, but also clearly establishes the presence of tuberculosis in Europe 7,000 years ago.”
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Bibliographic information: Masson M et al. 2013. Osteological and Biomolecular Evidence of a 7000-Year-Old Case of Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteopathy Secondary to Tuberculosis from Neolithic Hungary. PLoS ONE 8 (10): e78252; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078252
