American journal of physical anthropology
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Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. · Jan 2005
Comparative Study Historical ArticleMolecular identification of human tuberculosis in recent and historic bone tissue samples: The role of molecular techniques for the study of historic tuberculosis.
We describe the molecular identification of the M. tuberculosis complex DNA in bone tissue samples from recent and historic populations. In a first set, archival paraffin material from vertebral bodies of 12 recent cases with clinically/microbiologically proven tuberculosis was compared to 12 further cases without tuberculosis. While eight TB cases revealed a specific mycobacterial amplification product, none of the controls was positive. ⋯ These studies of historic material clearly support the notion that tuberculous infections can be unequivocally identified by molecular techniques. The relatively high frequency of ancient bacterial DNA amplifications in unremarkable bone is well-explained by our analysis of the recent material. Our data form an important basis for the investigation of tuberculosis frequency and spread in historic periods.