PLoS ONE · 2010 · 58 citations · 19 references
DentistryInfectious DiseasesMicrobiologyDental Dna AnalysisMedical MicrobiologyOral MicrobiologyDental AnthropologyDental Pulp Dna AnalysisOral Infection DiagnosisOral InfectionsOral Microbial DiagnosticsTooth Dna ExtractionAncient Tooth Dna ExtractionArchaeological Enamel Dna AnalysisMass Grave AnalysisMass Grave DocumentationMass Grave ExhumationOral Infection Outbreak InvestigationQuantitative Pcr DetectionTooth Pulp Dna Analysis
BACKGROUND: The new field of paleomicrobiology allows past outbreaks to be identified by testing dental pulp of human remains with PCR. METHODS: We identified a mass grave in Douai, France dating from the early XVIII(th) century. This city was besieged during the European war of Spanish succession. We tested dental pulp from 1192 teeth (including 40 from Douai) by quantitative PCR (qPCR) for R. prowazekii and B. quintana. We also used ultra-sensitive suicide PCR to detect R. prowazekii and genotyped positive samples. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: In the Douai remains, we identified one case of B. quintana infection (by qPCR) and R. prowazekii (by suicide PCR) in 6/21 individuals (29%). The R. prowazekii was genotype B, a genotype previously found in a Spanish isolate obtained in the first part of the XX(th) century. CONCLUSION: Louse-borne outbreaks were raging during the XVIII(th) century; our results support the hypothesis that typhus was imported into Europe by Spanish soldiers from America.
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Michel Drancourt, Gérard Aboudharam, Michel Signoli et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1998 · 332 citations · Full text
Outbreak of epidemic typhus associated with trench fever in Burundi
Didier Raoult, JB Ndihokubwayo, Hervé Tissot‐Dupont et al. · The Lancet · 1998 · 294 citations