2015/05/13 by Sarah A. Inskip, G. Michael Taylor, Sonia Zakrzewski +9 · 2 citations
Medicine · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Leprosy Research and Treatment #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Mycobacterium research and diagnosis
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124282
openalex publication_date 2015/05/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We have examined a 5th to 6th century inhumation from Great Chesterford, Essex, UK. The incomplete remains are those of a young male, aged around 21-35 years at death. The remains show osteological evidence of lepromatous leprosy (LL) and this was confirmed by lipid biomarker analysis and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, which provided evidence for both multi-copy and single copy loci from the Mycobacterium leprae genome. Genotyping showed the strain belonged to the 3I lineage, but the Great Chesterford isolate appeared to be ancestral to 3I strains found in later medieval cases in southern Britain and also continental Europe. While a number of contemporaneous cases exist, at present, this case of leprosy is the earliest radiocarbon dated case in Britain confirmed by both aDNA and lipid biomarkers. Importantly, Strontium and Oxygen isotope analysis suggest that the individual is likely to have originated from outside Britain. This potentially sheds light on the origins of the strain in Britain and its subsequent spread to other parts of the world, including the Americas where the 3I lineage of M. leprae is still found in some southern states of America.