Egyptian mummies trace malaria's roots Malaria DNA has been
found in two mummies from the ancient Egyptian capital of
Thebes, providing clear evidence for the earliest known cases of
the disease, say researchers. Pathologist Dr Andreas Nerlich and
colleagues, from the Academic Teaching Hospital München-
Bogenhausen in Munich, Germany, presented their research this
week in Naples at an international conference on ancient DNA.
Nerlich and colleagues studied 91 bone tissue samples from
ancient Egyptian mummies and skeletons dating from 3500 to 500
BC. Using special techniques from molecular biology, such as DNA
amplification and gene sequencing, the researchers identified
ancient DNA for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in
tissues from two mummies. "We now know for sure that malaria was
endemic in ancient Egypt. This was only been speculated on the
basis reports by [the 5th century BC Greek historian] Herodotus
and some very faint evidence from ancient Egyptian papyri," says
Nerlich. Caused by four diff