The presence of tuberculosis in Danish skeletons AD 800 - 1800:from skeletal data to paleoepidemiological analysis
Year: 2016
Type: other
Abstract: Objectives: This paper focuses on lesion patterns in 95 modern skeletons assumed to be infected with pulmonary tuberculosis and in 160 archaeological Danish skeletons of unknown tuberculosis status. Materials and methods:Skeletons from the Robert J. Terry Skeletal Collection, which dates to the early to mid-20 th century, and medieval to post-medieval Ribe were examined.Data on tuberculosis-related lesions in six locations of the skeleton were recorded.Skeletal lesion frequencies were compared between samples and across time.Results: Significantly different rib lesion frequencies were found in the modern and archaeological samples and, in the latter, temporally different groups of skeletons.Rib lesions were identified in 13.9% of the skeletons from medieval Ribe, 26.9% from post-medieval Ribe, and 65.3% from the Terry Collection.Significant differences were also found for the number of lesions in the Ribe and Terry Collection skeletons.Most of the skeletons with 1-2 lesions were found in the medieval (75.9%) and post-medieval (84.6%)Ribe samples, and most skeletons with 3 and more lesions were seen in the Terry Collection (36.8%).Discussion: Rib lesions in post-medieval Ribe resemble the pattern in the 20 th century Terry Collection.Post-medieval skeletons, however, have the least involvement of all other lesion sites.The results indicate differences in the expression of tuberculosis.That was presumably caused by changes in pathogens, host immunogenetics, and living conditions, all of which would have varied through time. 9.3.
Author: Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7024203079