Overview
- Institut Pasteur researchers report in Current Biology that four of 13 soldiers carried Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C and two carried Borrelia recurrentis.
- The teeth came from a mass grave near Vilnius discovered in 2001 that holds nearly 3,000 individuals identified as members of the Grande Armée.
- The team used next-generation, untargeted ancient-DNA screening of dental pulp followed by phylogenetic placement to authenticate pathogen fragments.
- Earlier tests in 2006 on the same assemblage had detected typhus and Bartonella quintana, expanding the picture of multiple infections during the retreat.
- The authors caution that the small sample and nature of DNA signals do not establish cause of death, noting cold, hunger, exhaustion and disease likely acted together.