Insufficient phylogenetic analysis may not exclude candidacy of typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens (reply to Shapiro et al.)

Abstract

The cause of the Plague of Athens (430–426 BC) has been debated among scientists, who have relied exclusively on Thucydides’ historical narrations1 to introduce several possible diagnoses.2,3 The application of DNA analysis on skeletal remains taken from the Kerameikos mass grave4 has been acknowledged as an ideal material that might provide clues for a definite evidence-based diagnosis of the epidemic.5 Following a research methodology of proven accuracy and validity (‘suicide’ PCR),6 it was shown by analysis of three genes (osmC, clyA, narG) that an ancient strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi was present in the investigated dental pulp material of three putative victims of the plague, thus incriminating typhoid fever as a probable cause.

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