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Papagrigorakis MJ, Yapijakis C, Synodinos PN, Baziotopoulou-Valavani E.  DNA examination of ancient dental pulp incriminates typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens. Int J Infect Dis. 2006 May;10(3):206-14.

Department of Orthodontics, Dental School, University of Athens, 2 Thivon str., 11527 Goudi/Athens, Greece. manjpap@dent.uoa.gr

BACKGROUND: Until now, in the absence of direct microbiological evidence, the cause of the Plague of Athens has remained a matter of debate among scientists who have relied exclusively on Thucydides' narrations to introduce several possible diagnoses. A mass burial pit, unearthed in the Kerameikos ancient cemetery of Athens and dated back to the time of the plague outbreak (around 430 BC), has provided the required skeletal material for the investigation of ancient microbial DNA. OBJECTIVE: To determine the probable cause of the Plague of Athens. METHOD: Dental pulp was our material of choice, since it has been proved to be an ideal DNA source of ancient septicemic microorganisms through its good vascularization, durability and natural sterility. RESULTS: Six DNA amplifications targeted at genomic parts of the agents of plague (Yersinia pestis), typhus (Rickettsia prowazekii), anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), cowpox (cowpox virus) and cat-scratch disease (Bartonella henselae) failed to yield any product in 'suicide' reactions of DNA samples isolated from three ancient teeth. On the seventh such attempt, DNA sequences of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi were identified providing clear evidence for the presence of that microorganism in the dental pulp of teeth recovered from the Kerameikos mass grave. CONCLUSION: The results of this study clearly implicate typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens.
 

Diagnosis, Diagnostics, Immunodiagnosis & Immunodiagnostics:

14910.  Cunha BA. Typhoid fever: the temporal relations of key clinical diagnostic points. Lancet Infect Dis. 2006 Jun;6(6):318-20; author reply 320-1.

14911.  Salve A, Pichel M, Wiesner M, Hidalgo M, Terragno R, Alvarez A, Agudelo CI, Castaneda E, Binsztein N. Molecular subtyping of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi isolates from Colombia and Argentina. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2006 Spring;3(1):142-52.

14912.  Shirakawa T, Acharya B, Kinoshita S, Kumagai S, Gotoh A, Kawabata M.  Decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and gyrA gene mutation in the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Paratyphi A isolated in Katmandu, Nepal, in 2003. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2006 Apr;54(4):299-303.

14913.  Williams SJ 2nd. Validation of aggressive surgical approach to intestinal typhoid perforation: a "new" and useful physical sign for peritonitis. Am J Surg. 2006 Apr;191(4):566.

Vaccines:

14914.  Do GC, Whittington D, Le TK, Utomo N, Nguyen TH, Poulos C, Dang TD, Kim D, Nyamete A, Acosta C. Household demand for typhoid fever vaccines in Hue, Vietnam. Health Policy Plan. 2006 May;21(3):241-55.    

Therapy:

14915.  Rahman M, Siddique AK, Shoma S, Rashid H, Salam MA, Ahmed QS, Nair GB, Breiman RF.  Emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi with decreased ciprofloxacin susceptibility in Bangladesh. Epidemiol Infect. 2006Apr;134(2):433-8.

14916.  Threlfall EJ, Day M, de Pinna E, Lewis H, Lawrence J. Drug-resistant enteric fever in the UK. Lancet. 2006 May 13;367(9522):1576.