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Brief Communication
Brief communication: Co-detection of Bartonella quintana and Yersinia pestis in an 11th–15th burial site in Bondy, France
Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21510
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Tran, T.-N.-N., Forestier, C. L., Drancourt, M., Raoult, D. and Aboudharam, G. (2011), Brief communication: Co-detection of Bartonella quintana and Yersinia pestis in an 11th–15th burial site in Bondy, France. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 145: 489–494. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21510
Publication History
- Issue published online: 14 JUN 2011
- Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
- Manuscript Accepted: 17 JAN 2011
- Manuscript Received: 22 NOV 2010
- Abstract
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- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- dental pulp;
- plague;
- Bondy;
- “suicide PCR”
Abstract
Historical and anthropological data suggest that skeletons excavated from an 11th to 15th century mass grave in Bondy, France, may be those of victims of the Great Plague. Using high-throughput real-time PCR investigation of the dental pulp collected from 14 teeth from five such skeletons, we detected Bartonella quintana DNA in three individuals and Yersinia pestis DNA in two individuals. DNA from five other deadly pathogens was not found. Suicide PCR genotyping confirmed Y. pestis DNA belonging to the Orientalis biotype. One individual had co-infection. These data suggest a plague epidemic in a population already infected by the body louse-transmitted B. quintana or a body louse-driven transmission of the plague that drove a medieval epidemic in inland Europe. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.