Parasite egg plucked from an ancient grave suggests farmers accidentally spread deadly diseases 6,000 years ago
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Today we have all sorts of drugs and equipment to prevent the spread of life-threatening diseases.
But an ancient parasite egg discovered in a 6,200-year-old grave hints that humans unwittingly spread disease using the earliest farming technology.
The schistosomiasis parasite egg was unearthed with a skeleton in a prehistoric town by the Euphrates River in Syria.
An ancient parasite egg discovered in a 6,200 year-old grave (pictured) hints that humans accidentally spread disease using the early irrigation systems. The egg was discovered in the pelvic area of the skeleton, where the intestines and bladder would have been
WHAT IS SCHISTOSOMIASIS?
Schistosomiasis - also known as snail fever - is a disease caused by parasitic worms, which can infect the urinary tract or intestines.
The disease is spread by contact with water that contains the parasites - hence the danger posed by irrigation systems.
The parasites are released from freshwater snails that have been infected.
Today, the disease is especially common among children in developing countries as they are more likely to play in infected water.
Methods to prevent the disease include improving access to clean water and reducing the number of snails.
In areas where the disease is common, entire groups may be treated all at once and yearly with the medication praziquantel.
Schistosomiasis currently affects almost 210 million people worldwide. Between 12,000 and 200,000 people die from it each year.
Schistosomiasis - also known as snail fever - is a disease caused by parasitic worms, which can infect the urinary tract or intestines.
The disease is spread by contact with water that contains the parasites - hence the danger posed by irrigation systems.
The parasites are released from freshwater snails that have been infected.
It can spread a disease that causes kidney failure, among other potentially fatal conditions.
It is thought the egg could be the first evidence that agricultural irrigation systems in the Middle East helped spread diseases caused by deadly flatworm parasites that live in the blood vessels of the bladder and intestines.
Researchers believe the disease was spread by the introduction of crop irrigation across ancient Mesopotamia, the region along the Tigris-Euphrates river system that is now part of modern day Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey.
The study, published in The Lancet, revealed that the parasite can cause anaemia, kidney failure, and even bladder cancer.
The schistosomiasis parasite can cause anaemia, kidney failure, and even bladder cancer. This image shows a schistosome egg recovered from the pelvic sediment of the skeleton
Researchers believe the disease was spread by the introduction of crop irrigation across ancient Mesopotamia, the region along the Tigris-Euphrates river system that is now part of modern day Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria (marked at A) and Turkey
'The individual who contracted the parasite might have done so through the use of irrigation systems that were starting to be introduced in Mesopotamia around 7,500 years ago,' Dr Piers Mitchell, at the University of Cambridge, said.
The schistosomiasis parasite egg was unearthed by a skeleton (pictured) in a prehistoric town by the Euphrates River in Syria
'The parasite spends part of its life cycle in snails that live in warm fresh water, before leaving the snail to burrow through the skin of people wading or swimming in the water.
'These irrigation systems distributed water to crops and may have triggered the beginning of the enormous disease burden that schistosomiasis has caused over the past 6,000 years.'
The discovery was made by archaeologists from Cambridge, Cyprus and Chicago, and is older than the Schistosomiasis egg discovered in Egyptian mummies from 5,200 years ago.
The egg was found in the pelvic area of the body, where the intestines and bladder would have been.
Dr Mitchell added: 'Schistosomiasis has become progressively more common over time so that it causes a huge burden across the world today, with over 200 million people infected.
'It causes anaemia which significantly decreases physical productivity in infected people, and may also cause bladder cancer.
'We would expect these consequences in ancient peoples to have had a significant impact upon early civilisations in the region.'
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