Image by Peter H. Seeberger
Malaria-infected cell bursting
The earliest documented case of β-thalassemia in Sardinia suggests malaria was widespread on the island long before the Middle Ages, according to researchers.
The team noted that Sardinia has one of the highest incidence rates of β-thalassemia in Europe due to its long history of endemic malaria.
However, it has been assumed that malaria was only endemic on the island since the Middle Ages (500-1500 CE).
New research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, suggests malaria was probably already endemic on Sardinia during the Roman period.
Since ancient DNA of malaria is difficult to extract, the researchers studied thalassemia and other genetic adaptations in its place.
The team studied a thalassemia allele called cod39 β-thalassemia, which is dominant on Sardinia. They were able to confirm the presence of the cod39 allele in the 2000-year-old (approximately 300 BCE to 100 CE) remains of a Roman man.
“This is the very first documented case of the genetic adaptation to malaria on Sardinia,” said study author Claudia Vigano, of the Institute for Evolutionary Medicine of the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
“We also discovered that the person was genetically a Sardinian in all probability and not an immigrant from another area.”
“Our study shows the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to history,” said Abigail Bouwman, also of the Institute for Evolutionary Medicine of the University of Zurich.
“We are researching the evolution of today’s diseases, such as malaria, to explain why the human body becomes sick at all and how adaptations occur.”
