The millennial dynamics of malaria in the mediterranean basin: documenting Plasmodium spp. on the medieval island of Corsica.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The lack of well-preserved material upon which to base the paleo-microbiological detection of Plasmodium parasites has prevented extensive documentation of past outbreaks of malaria in Europe. By trapping intact erythrocytes at the time of death, dental pulp has been shown to be a suitable tissue for documenting ancient intraerythrocytic pathogens such as Plasmodium parasites.

Methods

Total DNA and proteins extracted from 23 dental pulp specimens collected from individuals exhumed from the 9th to 13th century archaeological site in Mariana, Corsica, were analyzed using open-mind paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry and direct metagenomics, Plasmodium-targeting immunochromatography assays. All experiments incorporated appropriate negative controls

SUBMITTER: Boualam MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10739463 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature