01870nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001100001300042700001400055700001700069700001100086700001100097700001600108700001500124700001000139700000900149700001500158700001200173700001500185245011200200856007700312300001300389490000700402520118100409022001401590       2015                            d1 aInskip S1 aTaylor MG1 aZakrzewski S1 aMays S1 aPike A1 aLlewellyn G1 aWilliams C1 aLee O1 aWu H1 aMinnikin D1 aBesra G1 aStewart GR00aOsteological, biomolecular and geochemical examination of an early anglo-saxon case of lepromatous leprosy.  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4430215/pdf/pone.0124282.pdf  ae01242820 v103 a<p>We have examined a 5th to 6th century inhumation from Great Chesterford, Essex, UK. The incomplete remains are those of a young male, aged around 21-35 years at death. The remains show osteological evidence of lepromatous leprosy (LL) and this was confirmed by lipid biomarker analysis and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, which provided evidence for both multi-copy and single copy loci from the Mycobacterium leprae genome. Genotyping showed the strain belonged to the 3I lineage, but the Great Chesterford isolate appeared to be ancestral to 3I strains found in later medieval cases in southern Britain and also continental Europe. While a number of contemporaneous cases exist, at present, this case of leprosy is the earliest radiocarbon dated case in Britain confirmed by both aDNA and lipid biomarkers. Importantly, Strontium and Oxygen isotope analysis suggest that the individual is likely to have originated from outside Britain. This potentially sheds light on the origins of the strain in Britain and its subsequent spread to other parts of the world, including the Americas where the 3I lineage of M. leprae is still found in some southern states of America.</p>
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