IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS DNA IN A PRE-COLUMBIAN PERUVIAN MUMMY

Authors
SALO WL AUFDERHEIDE AC BUIKSTRA J HOLCOMB TA
Citation
Wl. Salo et al., IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS DNA IN A PRE-COLUMBIAN PERUVIAN MUMMY, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(6), 1994, pp. 2091-2094
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Journal title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America → ACNP
ISSN journal
00278424
Volume
91
Issue
6
Year of publication
1994
Pages
2091 - 2094
Database
ISI
SICI code
0027-8424(1994)91:6<2091:IOMDIA>2.0.ZU;2-6
Abstract
The existence of tuberculosis in the pre-Columbian Americas is controv ersial because the morphology of the lesion is not specific, the organ ism is culturally nonviable in ancient tissues, and nonpathogenic soil mycobacteria can contaminate buried bodies. We report the recovery of DNA unique to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a lung lesion of a spon taneously mummified, 1000-year-old adult female body in southern Peru. This provides the most specific evidence possible for the pre-Columbi an presence of human tuberculosis in the New World.