ArticlePloS one2013
Detection and strain typing of ancient Mycobacterium leprae from a medieval leprosy hospital.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Leprosy in skeletons from archaeological sites: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Ancient DNA study provides clues to leprosy susceptibility in medieval Europe.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Ancient DNA confirmation of lepromatous leprosy in a skeleton with concurrent osteosarcoma, excavated from the leprosarium of St. Mary Magdalen in Winchester, Hants., UK.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2022Article
- Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes.BMC biology · 2021Article
- Leprosy at the edge of Europe-Biomolecular, isotopic and osteoarchaeological findings from medieval Ireland.PloS one · 2018Article
- Investigation of a Medieval Pilgrim Burial Excavated from the Leprosarium of St Mary Magdalen Winchester, UK.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- Paleomicrobiology: a Snapshot of Ancient Microbes and Approaches to Forensic Microbiology.Microbiology spectrum · 2016Review
- Molecular studies on ancient M. tuberculosis and M. leprae: methods of pathogen and host DNA analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2015Review
- Human Genetic Ancestral Composition Correlates with the Origin of Mycobacterium leprae Strains in a Leprosy Endemic Population.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2015Article
- Osteological, biomolecular and geochemical examination of an early anglo-saxon case of lepromatous leprosy.PloS one · 2015Article
- Mycobacterium leprae genomes from a British medieval leprosy hospital: towards understanding an ancient epidemic.BMC genomics · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nine burials excavated from the Magdalen Hill Archaeological Research Project (MHARP) in Winchester, UK, showing skeletal signs of lepromatous leprosy (LL) have been studied using a multidisciplinary approach including osteological, geochemical and biomolecular techniques. DNA from Mycobacterium leprae was amplified from all nine skeletons but not from control skeletons devoid of indicative pathology. In several specimens we corroborated the identification of M. leprae with detection of mycolic acids specific to the cell wall of M. leprae and persistent in the skeletal samples. In five cases, the preservation of the material allowed detailed genotyping using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Three of the five cases proved to be infected with SNP type 3I-1, ancestral to contemporary M. leprae isolates found in southern states of America and likely carried by European migrants. From the remaining two burials we identified, for the first time in the British Isles, the occurrence of SNP type 2F. Stable isotope analysis conducted on tooth enamel taken from two of the type 3I-1 and one of the type 2F remains revealed that all three individuals had probably spent their formative years in the Winchester area. Previously, type 2F has been implicated as the precursor strain that migrated from the Middle East to India and South-East Asia, subsequently evolving to type 1 strains. Thus we show that type 2F had also spread westwards to Britain by the early medieval period.
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