Tuberculosis on the 17th century man-of-warKronan

Abstract

This study evaluates the possibility of identifying tuberculosis by means of molecular analysis in bone material with no morphological traces of the disease. A diaphysis of a long bone from a male individual with no morphological traces of tuberculosis was analysed. The bone was recovered from a 17th century man-of-war, situated in a layer of glacial mud in the Baltic Sea. Both osteological and X-ray diffraction analyses indicate that the bone is well preserved. The bone was analysed by amplifying DNA from a part of the repetitive element IS6110 of tuberculosis. Nested PCR was performed to increase the specificity and sensitivity. All the amplifications showed that there was DNA in the bone. This is consistent with the preservation of the material. By sequencing the DNA product, tuberculosis DNA was detected in accordance with previous studies. If the analysis procedure is refined, it will be possible to screen large amounts of bone material. This would thus provide more information on the distribution of the tuberculosis bacteria in the past. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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