Title
Multisystemic tuberculosis in a pre-Columbian Peruvian mummy: Four diagnostic levels, and a paleoepidemiological hypothesis
Date Issued
01 January 2000
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Cáceres U.
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Publisher(s)
Universidad de Tarapaca
Abstract
We review the case of an adult male from the Nasca culture who lived in southern Perú about 900 A.D. (Code 67466, National Museum in Lima). Four diagnostic levels support its diagnosis of pleuro-pulmonar and osseous tuberculosis: anatomo-radiological, bacteriological, molecular, and paleoepidemiological. To the present, the most definite cases of pre-Columbian tuberculosis in the Americas proceed from coastal southern Perú and northern Chile, where five out of approximately 1000 mummies studied by different authors have been clearly diagnosed with Pott's disease. Today, this disease reflects ±1% of all tuberculosis cases. Appropriate calculations permit us to estimate a high prevalence of tuberculosis in this area during pre-Columbian times. We postulate that tuberculosis has existed in this area since the Early Intermediate period, and had pandemic levels around 900 A.D. © 2007 Universidad de Tarapacá Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Administratives y Económicas Departamento de Antropología.
Start page
55
End page
60
Volume
32
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencia forense
Paleontología
Historia, Arqueología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-52849105477
Source
Chungara
ISSN of the container
07161182
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus