Evidence of brucellosis infection in the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery.

Abstract

Forty-seven skeletonized individuals from the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) had DNA extracted from their dental calculus to look for the presence of respiratory pathogens. The MCPFC is curated by the Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. According to the death records, respiratory infections and pneumonias were a leading cause of death. Polymerase Chain Reaction was run to examine the extracted DNA for evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Brucella species, and Streptococcus pneumoniae . Three individuals had IS711 present in their dental calculus, suggesting infection by Brucella species. This is the first documented brucellosis DNA successfully extracted from dental calculus.