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 infectionsCite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many. 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)[5] . 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 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 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. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Sabin
  5. ↑ 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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