Donoghue Helen D, Marcsik Antónia, Matheson Carney, Vernon Kim, Nuorala Emilia, Molto Joseph E, Greenblatt Charles L, Spigelman Mark
Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health, Department of Infection, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Feb 22;272(1561):389-94. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2966.
Both leprosy and tuberculosis were prevalent in Europe during the first millennium but thereafter leprosy declined. It is not known why this occurred, but one suggestion is that cross-immunity protected tuberculosis patients from leprosy. To investigate any relationship between the two diseases, selected archaeological samples, dating from the Roman period to the thirteenth century, were examined for both Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA, using PCR. The work was carried out and verified in geographically separate and independent laboratories. Several specimens with palaeopathological signs of leprosy were found to contain DNA from both pathogens, indicating that these diseases coexisted in the past. We suggest that the immunological changes found in multi-bacillary leprosy, in association with the socio-economic impact on those suffering from the disease, led to increased mortality from tuberculosis and therefore to the historical decline in leprosy.
在公元一千年期间，麻风病和结核病在欧洲都很流行，但此后麻风病发病率下降。目前尚不清楚为何会出现这种情况，但有一种观点认为交叉免疫保护了结核病患者免受麻风病侵害。为了研究这两种疾病之间的任何关系，利用聚合酶链反应（PCR）对从罗马时期到13世纪的选定考古样本进行了麻风分枝杆菌和结核分枝杆菌DNA检测。这项工作在地理位置上相互独立的实验室进行并得到验证。发现一些有麻风病古病理迹象的标本同时含有两种病原体的DNA，这表明这些疾病在过去曾同时存在。我们认为，在多菌型麻风病中发现的免疫变化，加上对患者的社会经济影响，导致了结核病死亡率上升，进而导致了历史上麻风病发病率的下降。
