Paleopathological Considerations on Malaria Infection in Korea before the 20th Century.

Dong Hoon Shin,Jong Ha Hong,Eunju Lee,Min Seo

doi:10.1155/2018/8516785

Abstract

Malaria, one of the deadliest diseases in human history, still infects many people worldwide. Among the species of the genus Plasmodium, P. vivax is commonly found in temperate-zone countries including South Korea. In this article, we first review the history of malarial infection in Korea by means of studies on Joseon documents and the related scientific data on the evolutionary history of P. vivax in Asia. According to the historical records, malarial infection was not unusual in pre-20th-century Korean society. We also found that certain behaviors of the Joseon people might have affected the host-vector-pathogen relationship, which could explain why malarial infection prevalence was so high in Korea at that time. In our review of genetic studies on P. vivax, we identified substantial geographic differentiation among continents and even between neighboring countries. Based on these, we were able to formulate a strategy for future analysis of ancient Plasmodium strains in Korea.

Highlights

Malaria is the fifth deadliest disease, infecting approximately 200 million people worldwide [1,2,3]
With respect to human samples obtained from archaeological sites, scientific techniques can be done to reveal whether the individual had suffered from malaria in his lifetime or to obtain phylogenetic information of its ancient genome
More extensive geographic samplings and assays are needed in order to obtain a more comprehensive demographic evolutionary history of malaria

Summary

Introduction

Malaria is the fifth deadliest disease, infecting approximately 200 million people worldwide [1,2,3]. As chronicstage vivax malaria was generally known to induce anemia, further causing porotic hyperostosis (PO) or cribra orbitalia (CO) in the cranium [10], anthropologists have searched for the presence of PO or CO in skeletal remains as indirect evidences of malarial infection [5, 12,13,14,15]. PO or CO has clear limitations with respect to its application to the study of ancient malaria because Plasmodium infection is not the only cause of them [12, 16] Other pathologies such as inherited hemolytic anemia, scurvy, or malignancies are known to induce the same skeletal changes of PO or CO [5, 12]. We offer this historical review as a fundamental basis for future research of ancient malaria infection in Korea and other Asian countries

Origin and Dispersal of Vivax Malaria Parasite

History of Malaria Infection in Korea

Paleopathological Approach to Ancient Malaria Infection in Korea

Findings

Conclusion