New discovery: Malaria appears from the Roman Empire

The DNA analysis process for teeth dating back 2,000 years revealed in cemeteries in Italy provided by the Italian journalist, Current Biology, published in the journal Current Biology. It is clear that malaria has existed during the Roman Empire.

The scientists' conclusion came after they conducted mitochondrial DNA analysis taken from the teeth of 58 adults and 10 children in three cemeteries of the Roman Empire in Italy. Two of the adults in these cemeteries, which date from the first and third centuries, are thought to have contracted malaria, based on their DNA.

Malaria may be a major source of disease in history that caused widespread death in ancient Rome.

Researcher Stephanie Marciniak of the University of Pennsylvania said that his data and colleagues showed that the subjects had been suffering from malaria-like fever in ancient Rome and Greece.

This pathogenic parasite is most likely the current Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite , which infects the human body in different biological and cultural environments.

Hendrik Poinar, Director of the Center for Ancient DNA at McMaster University in Canada and also the author of the study, said malaria could be a major source of disease in history that caused death. overflowing in ancient Rome.

However, researchers still do not know much about malaria under the Roman Empire, such as whether the disease is spontaneous on the spot or imported from outside. The first DNA evidence of malaria in ancient Rome was discovered in the bones of an estimated child dating back to 1,500 years.

Each year, malaria kills nearly 450,000 people worldwide, most of whom are children under 5 years old.