How did leprosy spread across the ancient world?

Submitted by owenjarus on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 21:21

Over the past five weeks two new studies have been released that are giving scholars new clues as to how leprosy became a global scourge.

The first, and most dramatic, find came out at the end of May and reported on the analysis of a 4,000 year old skeleton from the site of Balathal, a Harappa site, in India. The analysis detected the presence of leprosy, making it, by far, the oldest case known. (For comparison the next oldest cases date to nearly 2,500 years ago)

This study means that the troops of Alexander the Great might well have spread the disease after they returned home from their campaign in India – a popular idea given historical accounts that describe a disease that sounds like leprosy coming in their wake.

It also makes it possible that the 3,500 year old Ebers Papyrus, in Ancient Egypt, did in fact discuss leprosy.

The second study was released just a week ago online in the Journal of Archaeological Science. It offers a possible reason why such virulent outbreaks occurred in the 4th century Byzantine World, and then Middle Ages Europe.

The team was led by G. Michael Taylor of the Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health at University College, London.

In it the scientists analyze the skeleton of an adult female found in Uzbekistan dating from the 1st – 4th century A.D and find that she had leprosy.

Now, while there are other cases of leprosy known in Central Asia, what is special about this case is that the scientists were able to identify the type she had. It turned out that genetically it’s the same type (type 3) as those that pop up in Europe and in a few instances, China.

This isn’t likely to be a coincidence.

You see at the end of the second century B.C. China opened its export market for silk. This quickly mothballed into what we call the “Silk Road” linking China, Central Asia and Europe in an ancient long-distance trade route. The scientists theorize that this trade route may have aided the spread of leprosy westward to Europe.

The idea certainly seems plausible. Just look at this timeline of the history of leprosy and you can see the overlap between outbreaks in East Asia and Europe.

“Type 3 strains have also been reported in China and it is possible that leprosy may have reached Uzbekistan and other regions of Central Asia through the movement of peoples and trade westwards and southwards, eventually reaching Europe,” the team says in the journal article.

“This is supported by the observation of (type 3) strains in Iran and some regions of Turkey.”

These discoveries leave some important questions to be answered of course.

Why hasn’t there been skeletal remains found of someone with leprosy for the period between 2,000 – 500 B.C? Did the disease die out between them? Or have we simply not found them yet?

Also, are there more "type 3" cases waiting to be found in Central Asia that can solidly prove a “Silk Road” avenue of spread?

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About The Author

Owen Jarus (follow me: e-mail or

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Last three pieces by this author:

19 New Objects from King Tutankhamun's Tomb Discovered in New York | 'Unique' astronomical object reveals Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper | King Tut suffered 'massive' chest injury, new research reveals

Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations.

Comments

Ann:

Interesting! There was a short mention of this on the EEF list a while back - more than two weeks - about the 'import' of Indian slave girls being a possibility for how lepra got to ancient Egypt, but no links.. err.. sources to back that up. Now two other things still to learn about:

STD's - sexually transmitted diseases - in Ancient Egypt. (C'mon, they must have had them, how else did the Greek and Romans catch them? ;))
smallpox in Ancient Egypt

Which brings me to a nice random fact on biological warfare: "The earliest documented incident of the intention to use biological weapons is recorded in Hittite texts of 1500-1200 B.C, in which victims of plague were driven into enemy lands. Although the Assyrians knew of ergot, a fungus of rye with effects similar to LSD, there is no evidence that they poisoned enemy wells with ergot, as has often been claimed."

Wed, 08-07-2009 22:48

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