title: Tuberculosis in Late Neolithic-Early Copper Age human skeletal remains from Hungary.
abstract: Alsónyék-Bátaszék in Southern Hungary is one of the largest late Neolithic settlements and cemeteries excavated in Central Europe. In total, 2359 burials from the Late Neolithic - Early Copper Age Lengyel culture were found between 2006 and 2009 [1]. Anthropological investigations previously carried out on individuals from this site revealed an interesting paleopathological case of tuberculosis in the form of Pott's disease dated to the early 5(th) millennium BC. In this study, selected specimens from this osteoarcheological series were subjected to paleomicrobiological analysis to establish the presence of MTBC bacteria. As all individuals showing clear osteological signs of TB infection belonged to a single grave group, 38 individuals from this grave group were analysed. The sample included the case of Pott's disease as well as individuals both with and without osseous TB manifestations. The detection of TB DNA in the individual with Pott's disease provided further evidence for the occurrence of TB in Neolithic populations of Europe. Moreover, our molecular analysis indicated that several other individuals of the same grave group were also infected with TB, opening the possibility for further analyses of this unique Neolithic skeletal series.
authors: Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary; Department of Genetics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. Electronic address: posa.annamaria@gmail.com.
authors: Annamária
authors: A
authors: Pósa
authors: Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC Research, Bolzano, Italy.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Maixner
authors: Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Balázs Gusztáv
authors: BG
authors: Mende
authors: Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Kitti
authors: K
authors: Köhler
authors: Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Anett
authors: A
authors: Osztás
authors: Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule I2BC CEA-CNRS-Université Paris-Saclay, UMR9198, Bât. 400 F-91405 ORSAY-Cedex, France.
authors: Christophe
authors: C
authors: Sola
authors: Laboratoire d'Anthropologie biologique Paul Broca, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France; Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Dutour
authors: Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
authors: Muriel
authors: M
authors: Masson
authors: Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
authors: Erika
authors: E
authors: Molnár
authors: Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
authors: György
authors: G
authors: Pálfi
authors: Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC Research, Bolzano, Italy.
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: Zink
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics; D010164:Paleopathology; D014394:Tuberculosis, Osteoarticular / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Carpathian basin; Late neolithic human samples; Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex; Skeletal tuberculosis; aDNA