Infectious Disease in the Neolithic

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Introduction

CT image of calcifications in chest suggesting Ranke complex and previous primary tuberculosis. Photo credit: Genome Biology.

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Major Pathogens

Mycobacterium tuberculosis
 Genetic evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, has been found as early as 5000 years ago [1]. It is most often identified as a Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, a larger group that is recognized by standard DNA probes [2]The complex includes M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. africanum, and M. microti [2]. M. tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of tuberculosis, but M. bovis and M. africanum can result in similar symptoms in humans[2]. Of these, M. bovis mostly affects cattle but can infect humans if infected meat and dairy products are ingested, while M. africanum is responsible for the majority of tuberculosis cases in Africa [2]. M. microti specifically affects mice and voles[2].

Cases of tuberculosis are often recorded in Neolithic burials. It is among the diseases most commonly reported in the archaeological record because it leaves diagnostic changes on human bone, often in the form of lesions and spinal collapse (Figure 1)[1][3]. Calcifications in organs can also be indicative of previous tuberculosis infections [4].

Individual burials in the Near East and Europe from early domestication phases in approximately 8800-7250 BCE are some of the earliest recorded cases of tuberculosis among humans [1]. In Europe, the earliest cases of skeletal tuberculosis date to about 5400-4800 BCE in Germany[1].

While these demonstrate that tuberculosis was present within the Neolithic period, they also suggest that microbes within the complex were capable of infecting humans before the shift away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. One school of thought suggests that the bacteria evolved within Pleistocene megafauna before crossing over to humans. This is partially supported by evidence of ancient M. tuberculosis complex DNA found in a North American bison from 17,830 years ago[2][5]. Others, however, suggest that the complex emerged during the Neolithic, and not before. Recently, DNA extracted from a Swedish mummy showing signs of tuberculosis contributed to a molecular clock phylogeny that placed a common ancestor to the M. tuberculosis complex as late as 2000-6000 years before present[4]. If this is the case, it would suggest that the emergence of human tuberculosis was correlated with the Neolithic revolution.

Regardless of its origin before or during the Neolithic, tuberculosis and its associated complex were likely more active once people began practicing agriculture. In a model aiming to characterize the maintenance of tuberculosis over time, researchers reinforced the claim that tuberculosis growth rates were higher in the Neolithic (0.1%/year) than they had been previously (0.003%/year)[6] . This trend may be tied to worsening living conditions that correspond with a shift to a sedentary lifestyle.

Section 2

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Section 3

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Section 4

Conclusion

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Fuchs, Katharina, Christoph Rinne, Clara Drummer, Alexander Immel, Ben Krause-Kyora, and Almut Nebel. “Infectious Diseases and Neolithic Transformations: Evaluating Biological and Archaeological Proxies in the German Loess Zone between 5500 and 2500 BCE.” 2019. The Holocene 29 (10): 1545–57.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Rothschild, Bruce M., Larry D. Martin, Galit Lev, Helen Bercovier, Gila Kahila Bar‐Gal, Charles Greenblatt, Helen Donoghue, Mark Spigelman, and David Brittain. “Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex DNA from an Extinct Bison Dated 17,000 Years before the Present.” 2001. Clinical Infectious Diseases 33 (3): 305–11.
  3. ↑ Buikstra, J.E. ed. "Ortner's identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains." 2019.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sabin et al. “A Seventeenth-Century Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Genome Supports a Neolithic Emergence of the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex.” 2020. Genome Biology 21 (1): 201.
  5. ↑ Minnikin, David E, Oona Y-C Lee, Houdini Ht Wu, Gurdyal S Besra, and Helen D Donoghue. “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).” 2020. The Holocene 30 (5): 781–83.
  6. ↑ Cardona, Pere-Joan, Martí Català, and Clara Prats. “The Origin and Maintenance of Tuberculosis Is Explained by the Induction of Smear-Negative Disease in the Paleolithic.” 2020. Pathogens 11 (3): 366



Authored for BIOL 238 Microbiology, taught by Joan Slonczewski,at Kenyon College,2024

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