Similar strains found in the remains of a British leprosy patient and a northern squirrel
Posted on 04.05.2024 at 20:00 Posted on 04.05.2024 at 20:00 Modified on 04.05.2024 at 19:03 Views 43
The analysis showed that the strains of leprosy found in humans and northern squirrels are similar. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]A new study suggests that the medieval leprosy epidemic may have been a product of the red squirrel fur trade. This is what the British Guardian reports based on an article by British, Swiss and American researchers published in Current Biology on the 3rd (local time).
Hansen’s disease, also called leprosy, is transmitted by Mycobacterium leprae and is an infectious disease with deep historical roots. Currently most outbreaks are concentrated in Southeast Asia and it is a disease that can be treated with antibiotics, but in the Middle Ages it spread widely across the Eurasian continent. The habitat of the northern squirrel, a squirrel, is also concentrated on the Eurasian continent.
Previous research has found that people in medieval England, Denmark and Sweden had a type of leprosy similar to that found in northern squirrels that live in southern England today. For this reason, the hypothesis has been put forward that the trade in squirrel fur imported from Scandinavia by the Vikings may have contributed to the spread of this disease.
The results of this study strengthen this hypothesis. The researchers analyzed leprosy genes found in samples from three people who lived in Winchester, England, between 900 and 600 years ago, and leprosy genes found in the remains of a northern squirrel found in a fur trader’s warehouse between 1,000 and 9,000 years ago. . The reason researchers focused on Winchester is because it was a major city in the Middle Ages, had a leper colony, and was also home to fur traders.
As a result of the analysis, the leprosy strains found in humans and northern squirrels were similar. “This is the first time that leprosy has been discovered in an animal host through archaeological research,” said Dr Sarah Inskip, an osteoarchaeologist at the University of Leicester, UK, and co-author of the paper. “The similarity between the two strains is similar to that of the medieval squirrel strain and the modern squirrel strain. ““It’s bigger than the similarities,” she said.
The researchers pointed out that these findings suggest that leprosy was transmitted between humans and squirrels. However, there are limitations as the number of samples is small and it is unclear whether it was transmitted from humans to squirrels or from squirrels to humans. Dr. Inskip explained that although humans transmitted leprosy to armadillos living in the Americas, it is also possible for humans to become infected from animals.
He said there are several possibilities for how transmission may have occurred and that the squirrel strain may have been transmitted to humans through the fur trade. Indeed, the researchers pointed out that in 1384 alone, 377,200 squirrel skins were imported into Britain from overseas, including the Scandinavian peninsula.
The fact that many squirrels are kept as pets may be another point of contact. “Both mechanisms are possible and are not mutually exclusive,” Inskip said.
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