Smallpox has plagued humans since ancient Egyptian times, new evidence confirms:
Smallpox was once one of humanity's most devastating diseases, but its origin is shrouded in mystery. For years, scientific estimates of when the smallpox virus first emerged have been at odds with historical records. Now, a new study reveals that the virus dates back 2,000 years further than scientists have previously shown, verifying historical sources and confirming for the first time that the disease has plagued human societies since ancient times.
[...] Until relatively recently, the earliest genetic evidence for smallpox was only from the 1600s. Then in 2020, a study that sampled skeletal and dental remains of Viking-age skeletons recovered multiple strains of variola and confirmed the virus' existence at least another 1,000 years earlier.
However, some historians believe that smallpox has been around since long before the Vikings. Suspicious scarring on ancient Egyptian mummies (including the Pharoah Ramses V who died in 1157 BC) leads some to believe that the history of smallpox stretches back at least 3,000 years. So far, the missing piece of scientific evidence to support this theory has remained hidden.
By comparing the genomes of modern and historic strains of variola virus, researchers at the Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea and University of Milan in Italy have traced the evolution of the virus back in time. They found that different strains of smallpox all descended from a single common ancestor and that a small fraction of the genetic components found in Viking-age genomes had persisted until the 18th century.
[...] Using a mathematical equation, scientists can account for the time-dependent rate phenomenon to give more accurate dates for evolutionary events, such as the appearance of a new virus. This gave the team a new estimate for the first emergence of smallpox: more than 3,800 years ago. Just as historians have long suspected.
The researchers hope these findings will settle a longstanding controversy and provide new insight into the history of one of humanity's deadliest diseases.
Journal Reference:
Diego Forni, Cristian Molteni, Rachele Cagliani, et al., Analysis of variola virus molecular evolution suggests an old origin of the virus consistent with historical records [open], Microb Gen, 9, 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000932
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday February 23, @11:42PM (1 child)
Well, that beats the plague of Athens back in 430 to 427 BC. Interestingly nobody knows "for sure" what that plague was, couldda been smallpox or typhus or a great pile of alternatives.
Always makes you wonder if Athens would have won the Peloponnesian War or at least not lost so badly. They'd probably just have sent more soldiers to die in Sicily, but who knows?
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday February 24, @06:07AM
Bio weapons war is very effective. It was proved all over the ages.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24, @07:03AM (2 children)
Have been injecting 5G chips for thousands of years.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday February 24, @05:01PM (1 child)
I'm not saying its Aliens. But... Aliens.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 24, @11:20PM