An isotopic case study of individuals with syphilis from the pathological-anatomical reference collection of the national museum in Prague (Czech Republic, 19th century A.D.).

OBJECTIVE

This paper aims at investigating the possible existence of isotopic offsets in δC and δN values in relation to tertiary syphilis.

MATERIAL

Based on materials from the 19th c. A.D. deriving from the pathological-anatomical reference collection (the Jedlička collection) of the National Museum in Prague (Czech Republic), a comparative approach of ten individuals with syphilis and nine without the disease was undertaken.

METHODS

Bone powder samples were defatted according to the protocol of Liden et al. (1995). Bone collagen was extracted following the protocol of Bocherens et al. (1991).

RESULTS

Our results show that individuals with syphilis have lower δC values than individuals without the disease; the observed difference between the two groups is about 0.3-0.4‰, which is relatively small but still meaningful. However, no difference between δN values of the two groups has been noticed.

CONCLUSIONS

Either diets prescribed by physicians to syphilitic patients or nutritional stress caused by cyclic appetite disturbance due to the disease itself or the administered medical treatment appeared to be possible explanations of the observed isotopic pattern. Overall, the response of the two isotopic proxies could argue for relatively limited nutritional restrictions.

SIGNIFICANCE

This is the first study examining bone collagen isotopic response to syphilis based on clinically documented human skeletal materials.

LIMITATIONS

The sample sizes are relatively small and cautiousness must be taken regarding the interpretations of the data.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Compound-specific stable isotope investigations and analysis of mercury content could be helpful to better understand the observed isotopic effects.