TREPONEMAL DISEASE REVISITED - SKELETAL DISCRIMINATORS FOR YAWS, BEJEL, AND VENEREAL SYPHILIS
Title
TREPONEMAL DISEASE REVISITED - SKELETAL DISCRIMINATORS FOR YAWS, BEJEL, AND VENEREAL SYPHILIS
Creator
Rothschild B M; Rothschild C
Publisher
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Date
1995
1995-05
Description
Assigning responsibility for the origins of treponemal disease has been complicated because of the (diagnostic) impreciseness of the historical written record and the inability to microbiologically distinguish among the treponematoses. Bedouin skeletal remains of individuals from the Negev area of Israel who had bejel, skeletons from the Todd human skeleton collection of individuals in whom syphilis was diagnosed, and skeletal remains from Guam of individuals who had yaws were analyzed to quantitatively assess their skeletal damage, The osseous reactions, although reproducible for each variety of treponemal disease, are not uniform among these skeletons. Examination of population frequency, demographics, character, and skeletal distribution of osseous treponemal damage in these skeletal sites provides clear, reproducible clues to the identity of the underlying treponematosis: bejel and yaws are common (>20% according to skeletal findings) in the population. Syphilis and bejel usually spare the hands and feet. Yaws tends to be more polyostotic. Analysis of these parameters as population phenomena in pre-Columbian archeological sites should afford the opportunity to define the origins of the various treponemal disorders.
Subject
defleshed bones; erosive arthritis; Immunology; indians; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology; origin; polymerase chain-reaction; rheumatoid-arthritis; spondyloarthropathy; world
Identifier
Format
Journal Article
URL Address
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Rights
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Pages
1402-1408
Issue
5
Volume
20
Citation
Rothschild B M; Rothschild C, “TREPONEMAL DISEASE REVISITED - SKELETAL DISCRIMINATORS FOR YAWS, BEJEL, AND VENEREAL SYPHILIS,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed April 25, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/6968.