The leprosy-causing bacterium M. leprae was identified in seven individuals (0.5% detection rate) from Scandinavia and only appeared from the Late Iron Age onwards (earliest case RISE174, 1,523–1,339 cal. bp). Because M. leprae can infect both red squirrels and humans35, and archaeological evidence demonstrates that fur trade from Scandinavia, including squirrel fur, increased substantially during the late Iron and Viking Ages36, our results support the suggestion that squirrel fur trade could have facilitated transmission37. Our findings are also consistent with the widespread distribution of leprosy in medieval Europe38.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09192-8
venereal syphilis—in three individuals from recent time periods (earliest case 101809T, Denmark, 600–500 bp; Extended Data Fig. 7). Two cases were identified in individuals from Borneo in southeast Asia (around 500–300 years bp), expanding the range of paleogenomic evidence for treponemal disease into this region.
A striking case was a Viking Age individual from Norway (VK388), in which we replicated previous results of infection with a probably smallpox-causing variola virus19 and furthermore found evidence of infection with the leprosy-causing bacterium M. leprae. Another case of possible coinfection with M. leprae was found in VK366, a Viking Age individual from Denmark, who also showed evidence for leptospirosis (L. interrogans).
Steppe Migration of 3000 BCE caused serious decline in native "indigenous" Pre-Indo-European populations....
We observed some of the highest detection rates at roughly 5,000 bp, a time of substantial demographic changes in Europe due to the migration of Steppe pastoralists and the displacement of earlier populations4,5. Steppe pastoralists, through their long-term continuous exposure to animals, probably developed some immunity to certain zoonoses and their dispersals may have carried these diseases westwards and eastwards. Consequently, the genetic upheaval in Europe could have been facilitated by epidemic waves of zoonotic diseases causing population declines, with depopulated areas subsequently being repopulated by opportunistic settlers who intermixed with the remaining original population. This scenario would mirror the population decline of Indigenous people in the Americas following their exposure to diseases introduced by European colonists55,56. Our findings support the interpretation of increased pathogen pressure as a likely driver of positive selection on immune genes associated with the risk of multiple sclerosis in Steppe populations roughly 5,000 years ago57, and immune gene adaptations having occurred predominantly after the onset of the Bronze Age in Europe9.
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