Abstract
Hansen’s disease (leprosy), mainly caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae, has accompanied humanity for thousands of years. Although currently rare in Europe, there are over 200,000 new infections annually in South East Asia, Africa, and South America. Over the years many disciplines – palaeopathology, ancient DNA and other ancient biomolecules, and history – have contributed to a better understanding of leprosy’s past, in particular its history in medieval Europe. We discuss their contributions and potential, especially in relation to the role of inter-species transmission, an unexplored phenomenon in the disease’s history. Here, we explore the potential of interdisciplinary approaches that understand disease as a biosocial phenomenon, which is a product of both infection with M. leprae and social behaviours that facilitate transmission and spread. Genetic evidence of M. leprae isolated from archaeological remains combined with systematic zooarchaeological and historical analysis would not only identify when and in what direction transmission occurred, but also key social behaviours and motivations that brought species together. In our opinion, this combination is crucial to understand the disease’s zoonotic past and current potential.
Highlights
Hansen’s disease (HD) – colloquially known as leprosy – is a chronic infectious disease whose main causative agent is Mycobacterium leprae (Han et al, 2008)
Originally believed to only affect humans, research increasingly shows that many species are affected; M. leprae was first identified in a non-human species in the United States, in nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus, e.g., Folse and Smith, 1983)
M. leprae was found in modern Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) from Brownsea Island, southern England (Avanzi et al, 2016) and in various non-human primates (Honap et al, 2018)
Summary
Hansen’s disease (HD) – colloquially known as leprosy – is a chronic infectious disease whose main causative agent is Mycobacterium leprae (Han et al, 2008). A combination of highly distinctive skeletal lesions: the nerve damage caused by M. leprae invasion can lead to direct and indirect bone changes in the hands, feet, and facial bones (Table 1; Roberts and Buikstra, 2019) This field has been pivotal in showing that M. leprae has likely infected humans for at least 5,500 years (Köhler et al, 2017). In understanding past case distribution, the trade in, keeping of and living with animals, which may play a crucial role in the spread and persistence of (infectious) disease within human society, has not yet been considered. Including animals in such narratives and extending palaeopathological approaches to zooarchaeology provides significant potential to assess this important and overlooked facet of HD’s history.
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