These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: First genetic evidence of leprosy in early medieval Austria.
    Author: Gausterer C, Stein C, Teschler-Nicola M.
    Journal: Wien Med Wochenschr; 2015 Apr; 165(7-8):126-32. PubMed ID: 25007893.
    Abstract:
    Leprosy used to be a widespread, dreaded disease in Europe during the middle ages, and it still remains an important health problem in some parts of the world today. Herein, we present data on the earliest 'Austrian' (an adult female from the early medieval period) proven to have suffered from leprosy. Manifestations of the disease were first identified during a systematic screening of pathological changes in skeletons recovered from an archaeological site in Pottenbrunn (Lower Austria). In the present study, DNA extracts from selected cranial and postcranial bone samples were investigated using polymerase chain reaction primers specific to the Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) repetitive element (RLEP). M. leprae traces were detected in extracts from nasal and palatine bones. Sequence analysis of informative polymorphic sites supports previous reports indicating that European M. leprae strains fall into single nucleotide polymorphism group 3. In summary, these findings put Austria on the map of confirmed leprosy cases in ancient Europe.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]