Can some one send me a copy of the following article:
Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun’s Family
Zahi Hawass, PhD; Yehia Z. Gad, MD; Somaia Ismail, PhD; Rabab Khairat, MSc; Dina Fathalla, MSc; Naglaa Hasan, MSc; Amal Ahmed, BPharm; Hisham Elleithy, MA; Markus Ball, MSc; Fawzi Gaballah, PhD; Sally Wasef, MSc; Mohamed Fateen, MD; Hany Amer, PhD; Paul Gostner, MD; Ashraf Selim, MD; Albert Zink, PhD; Carsten M. Pusch, PhD
JAMA. 2010;303(7):638-647.
According to PhysOrg.Com. the study uses CT scans and DNA analysis from 11 mummies to come to some really interesting results concerning Tutankhamum and his relatives. For example:
But genetic testing found evidence that Tutankhamun had been infected with plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes an often deadly form of malaria.
The scans and genetic fingerprinting carried out on Tutankhamun also showed he had several disorders, some of which ran in the family. They included a bone disease and a club foot.
So rather than the majestic ruler that Tut is often depicted as, the pharaoh was probably “a young but frail king who needed canes to walk because of the bone-necrotic and sometimes painful Koehler disease II, plus oligodactyly (hypophalangism) in the right foot and clubfoot on the left,” the study said.
Tut’s many disorders probably weakened his immune system over time, and the researchers believe he might have died when, in his immuno-deficient state, he sustained a “sudden leg fracture, possibly introduced by a fall,” which snowballed into a life-threatening condition when he contracted malaria.
Filed under: Bioarchaeology, Paleopathology |