Something I’ve been fascinated by ever since I saw the famous golden death mask in the British Museum is what caused Tutankhamun to die so young. There has been a bit of speculation among pathologists in recent years, but today we hear that the evidence suggests it was malaria, in conjunction with avascular bone necrosis. An overview can be found on the ABC news site.
The impact of the world’s major infections; malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in particular, can be mapped at a population level. In these democratic times, we often ignore the impact these diseases can have on the course of history through their direct effect on leaders, policy-makers and opinion-formers. What would the course of Egypt’s history have been if King Tut had lived to a ripe old age? He was supposed to be only a minor king, but had reigned for around nine years at the time of his death. It’s difficult to believe someone buried with such an incredibly valuable hoard of grave good wasn’t that important.
But let’s not get too maudlin about this. There’s a great opportunity to gain from the molecular biology here, as I’m sure the investigating team have already realised. How closely related is Tut’s Plasmodium falciparum is to current infective strains? Does it tell us something about the historic and geographic origins of the infection, and what about explaining the sudden, calamitous decline of Egyptian civilisation?
The report was published in JAMA this week:
Hawass Z, Gad YZ, Ismail S, Khairat R, Fathalla D, Hasan N, Ahmed A, Elleithy H, Ball M, Gaballah F, Wasef S, Fateen M, Amer H, Gostner P, Selim A, Zink A, Pusch CM. Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun’s Family. JAMA. 2010 Feb 17;303(7):638-47.
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