A Personal View of How Paleomicrobiology Aids Our Understanding of the Role of Lice in Plague Pandemics
- Author: Didier Raoult1
- Editors: Michel Drancourt2, Didier Raoult3
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VIEW AFFILIATIONS HIDE AFFILIATIONSAffiliations: 1: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Insert 1095, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France; 2: Aix Marseille Université Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France; 3: Aix Marseille Université Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France
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Received 23 January 2015 Accepted 25 January 2015 Published 18 August 2016
- Correspondence: Didier Raoult, [email protected]

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Abstract:
We have been involved in the field of paleomicrobiology since 1998, when we used dental pulp to identify Yersinia pestis as the causative agent of the great plague of Marseille (1720). We recently designed a specific technique, “suicide PCR,” that can prevent contamination. A controversy arose between two teams, with one claiming that DNA must be altered to amplify it and the other group claiming that demographic data did not support the role of Y. pestis in the Black Death (i.e., the great plague of the Middle Ages). These controversies led us to evaluate other epidemiological models and to propose the body louse as the vector of this pandemic. This proposal was substantiated by experimental models, the recovery of Y. pestis from lice in the Congo, and the identification of epidemics involving both Y. pestis and Bartonella quintana (the agent of trench fever, transmitted by the body louse) in ancient corpses from mass graves. Paleomicrobiology has led to a re-evaluation of plague pandemics.
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Citation: Raoult D. 2016. A Personal View of How Paleomicrobiology Aids Our Understanding of the Role of Lice in Plague Pandemics. Microbiol Spectrum 4(4):PoH-0001-2014. doi:10.1128/microbiolspec.PoH-0001-2014.




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Abstract:
We have been involved in the field of paleomicrobiology since 1998, when we used dental pulp to identify Yersinia pestis as the causative agent of the great plague of Marseille (1720). We recently designed a specific technique, “suicide PCR,” that can prevent contamination. A controversy arose between two teams, with one claiming that DNA must be altered to amplify it and the other group claiming that demographic data did not support the role of Y. pestis in the Black Death (i.e., the great plague of the Middle Ages). These controversies led us to evaluate other epidemiological models and to propose the body louse as the vector of this pandemic. This proposal was substantiated by experimental models, the recovery of Y. pestis from lice in the Congo, and the identification of epidemics involving both Y. pestis and Bartonella quintana (the agent of trench fever, transmitted by the body louse) in ancient corpses from mass graves. Paleomicrobiology has led to a re-evaluation of plague pandemics.

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FIGURE 1
Recovery of dental pulp from an ancient jaw. To view video go to http://www.asmscience.org/files/recovery_of_human_dental_pulp.mpg.
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