title: Short report: cysticercosis in an Egyptian mummy of the late Ptolemaic period.
abstract: We describe here an ancient case of cysticercosis that was discovered in an Egyptian mummy of a young woman of about 20 years of age who lived in the late Ptolemaic period (second to first centuries b.c.). On removal of the stomach and its rehydration, a cystic lesion in the stomach wall was observed by naked eye. Microscopical examination of sections of this lesion revealed a cystic structure, with a wall, with numerous projecting eversions, a characteristic feature of the larval stage (cysticercus) of the human tapeworm Taenia solium (or "pig tapeworm"). Immunohistochemical testing with serum from a T. solium-infected human confirmed the identity of the cyst. This finding is the oldest on record of the antiquity of this zoonotic parasite. This observation also confirms that, in Hellenistic Egypt, the farming of swine, along with man an intermediate host of this parasite, was present, and supports other archeological evidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. fbruschi@med.unipi.it
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bruschi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masetti
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Locci
authors.forename: Rosalba
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ciranni
authors.forename: Gino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fornaciari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003551:Cysticercosis / Q000266:history* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D000076144:Egypt, Ancient; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000266:history* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D009106:Mummies; D013552:Swine; D041201:Taenia solium / Q000302:isolation & purification