Skeletons May Put Blame on Vikings for Smallpox' Spread
FRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The Vikings had smallpox and may have spread it wherever they ventured, scientists report.
That conclusion stems from an examination of teeth from 1,400-year-old Viking skeletons that contained extinct strains of smallpox. The genetic structure of those strains differed from that of the modern smallpox virus eradicated in the 20th century, the researchers found.
"We already knew Vikings were moving around Europe and beyond, and we now know they had smallpox," said lead researcher Eske Willerslev, a supervisor in zoology at St. John's College at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
"People traveling around the world quickly spread COVID-19 and it is likely Vikings spread smallpox. Just back then, they traveled by ship rather than by plane," Willerslev added.
Historians had suspected that smallpox has existed since 10,000 B.C., but they had no proof that it was around before the 17th century. Sequencing its earliest-known strain proved that it existed during the Viking Age, according to researcher Martin Sikora. He's an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen's Center for GeoGenetics, in Denmark.
"While we don't know for sure if these strains of smallpox were fatal and caused the death of the Vikings we sampled, they certainly died with smallpox in their bloodstream for us to be able to detect it up to 1,400 years later," Sikora said. "It is also highly probable there were epidemics earlier than our findings that scientists have yet to discover DNA evidence of."
Dr. Terry Jones, of the Institute of Virology at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in Germany, said many mysteries about pox viruses remain.
"To find smallpox so genetically different in Vikings is truly remarkable. No one expected that these smallpox strains existed. It has long been believed that smallpox was in Western and Southern Europe regularly by 600 A.D., around the beginning of our samples," Jones said.
The researchers have proved, Jones added, that smallpox was also widespread in Northern Europe.
"Returning crusaders or other later events have been thought to have first brought smallpox to Europe, but such theories cannot be correct," Jones said. "While written accounts of disease are often ambiguous, our findings push the date of the confirmed existence of smallpox back by a thousand years."
The findings were published July 23 in the journal Science.
There's more about smallpox at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: St. John's College, University of Cambridge, news release, July 23, 2020
"Wakilimu wa Marekani wametangaza kuwa ""Wakiloni"" walipata ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa wa ugonjwa." Utafiti huo ulifanyika baada ya kuchunguza mifupa ya watu wa Viking iliyokuwa na umri wa miaka 1,400 na ambayo ilikuwa na aina ya ugonjwa wa chembechembe. Uundaji wa chembe za urithi wa aina hizo zilitofautiana na zile za virusi vya kisasa vya ugonjwa wa ndui vilivyokomeshwa katika karne ya 20, watafiti walipata. "Tunajua kwamba Viking walikuwa wakisafiri kote Ulaya na zaidi, na sasa tunajua walikuwa na ugonjwa wa ndui, ""alisema Eske Willerslev, mkurugenzi wa zoolojia katika Chuo Kikuu cha St. John katika Chuo Kikuu cha Cambridge nchini Uingereza." "Watu wanaosafiri ulimwenguni kote husambaza COVID-19 haraka na inawezekana kwamba Vikings walieneza ugonjwa wa ndui. """ Wakati huo, walienda kwa meli badala ya kwa ndege", Willerslev akaongeza. Wataalamu wa historia wanaamini kwamba ugonjwa wa chembe za urithi ulianza kutokea mwaka wa 10 000 KK, lakini hakuna ushahidi unaoonyesha kwamba ugonjwa huo ulianza kutokea kabla ya karne ya 17. Kufuatilia mstari wa mstari wa kwanza wa mstari huo ulithibitisha kwamba ilikuwepo wakati wa Enzi ya Viking, kulingana na mtafiti Martin Sikora. Yeye ni profesa msaidizi katika Chuo Kikuu cha Copenhagen Kituo cha GeoGenetics, nchini Denmark. """Hatujui kwa uhakika kama aina hizi za ugonjwa wa chembechembe zilikuwa mbaya na kusababisha kifo cha Viking tuliochukua sampuli, lakini hakika walikufa na ugonjwa wa chembechembe katika mtiririko wao wa damu ili tuweze kuigundua hadi miaka 1,400 baadaye,"" alisema Sikora." "Ni uwezekano mkubwa pia kwamba kulikuwa na magonjwa ya kuambukiza kabla ya matokeo yetu ambayo wanasayansi bado hawajagundua uthibitisho wa DNA.""" Terry Jones, Mtaalamu wa Virolojia katika Chuo Kikuu cha Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Ujerumani, alisema kuwa kuna mambo mengi yasiyoeleweka kuhusu virusi vya ugonjwa wa chembechembe. "Kupata ugonjwa wa ndui ulio tofauti sana katika chembe za urithi za Waviking ni jambo la ajabu sana. Hakuna mtu aliyetarajia kwamba aina hizo za ugonjwa wa ndui zingeweza kuwepo. "Kwa muda mrefu ilidhaniwa kwamba ugonjwa wa chembe za urithi ulikuwa katika Ulaya ya Magharibi na Kusini kwa ukawaida mnamo 600 KK, karibu na mwanzo wa sampuli zetu, ""alisema Jones." Jones aliongeza kwamba watafiti hao wamethibitisha kwamba ugonjwa wa ndui ulikuwa umeenea sana katika Ulaya Kaskazini. "Wapiganaji wa msalaba waliorudi au matukio mengine ya baadaye yamefikiriwa kuwa yalisababisha kwanza ugonjwa wa ndui huko Ulaya, lakini nadharia hizo haziwezi kuwa sahihi", Jones alisema. "Wakati masimulizi yaliyoandikwa ya magonjwa mara nyingi hayana uwazi, matokeo yetu yanaharakisha tarehe ya uthibitisho wa kuwepo kwa ugonjwa wa ndui kwa miaka elfu moja". Matokeo ya utafiti huo yamechapishwa katika jarida la Sayansi mnamo Julai 23. Kuna habari zaidi kuhusu ugonjwa wa chembechembe katika Kituo cha Marekani cha Kudhibiti na Kuzuia Magonjwa. St. John's College, Chuo Kikuu cha Cambridge, Julai 23, 2020