Recognising the broad array of approaches available for the diagnosis of ancient tuberculosis

Comment on ‘Infectious diseases and Neolithic transformations’ (Fuchs et al. 2019 The Holocene 29: 1545–1557)

Bibliographic Data

ID12267442
AuthorsDavid E Minnikin (0000-0002-9486-8999, University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Oona Y-C Lee (0000-0002-7077-7662, University of Birmingham), Houdini H T Wu (0000-0002-4097-3494, University of Birmingham), Houdini HT Wu (University of Birmingham), Gurdyal S Besra (0000-0002-5605-0395, University of Birmingham), Helen D Donoghue (0000-0003-3918-5252, Centre for Clinical Microbiology, University College London, UK)
Year2020
Volume30
Issue5
Pages781-783
Publication date2020-01-05
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959683619895572
OpenAlexW2997310984
LanguageEN
References cited16

The characterisation of ancient tuberculosis is not totally dependent on the recovery of intact genomes. Judicious combinations of ancient DNA fragments and specific lipid biomarkers provide unambiguous diagnosis and these protocols are capable of refinement and extension. Currently, there is no direct evidence for exclusive co-evolution of humans and tuberculosis. A developing body of data suggests that the initial evolution of tuberculosis may readily have taken place in a range of Pleistocene megafauna

Ancient DNA · Archaeology · Biology · Evolutionary biology · Holocene · Megafauna · Pathology · Pleistocene · Range (aeronautics · Tuberculosis · History · Medicine · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research · Geology · Paleontology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub