Typhoid fever linked to ancient plague of Athens

LONDON (Reuters) - Modern DNA analysis of ancient dental pulp suggests that typhoid fever was the cause of the plague, which helped end the Golden Age in Athens, scientists said on Monday.

The DNA collected from teeth from an ancient Greek burial site is similar to a modern organism that causes typhoid fever, an infection spread by contaminated food or water.

"Studying the historical aspects of infectious disease can be a powerful tool for several disciplines to learn from," said Dr. Manolis Papagrigorakis of Athens University, a co-author of the study.

"We believe this report to be of outstanding importance for many scientific fields, since it sheds light on one of the most debated enigmas in medical history."

Up to one third of Athenians are thought to have died from the plague that spread to Greece from Ethiopia, Egypt and Libya in 430-426 B.C.

Several diseases including smallpox, bubonic plague, anthrax and measles have been suggested as the cause of the plague, one of whose most prominent victims was the Athenian Golden Age leader Pericles.

In research reported online by the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the scientists described how they extracted DNA from a mass burial pit in a cemetery dating back to the time the plague struck Greece.

Papagrigorakis and his team said the DNA sequences resembled Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, the organism that causes typhoid fever.