Rethabile Masiu , Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen , Lawrence Hill , Maryna Steyn
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
Objective
This study assessed the sensitivity and specificity of skeletal lesions to accurately diagnose TB in a pre-antibiotic South African skeletal sample.
Materials
A total of 435 skeletons of individuals who died before 1950 from the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons. 176 died of TB, 109 died of other pulmonary diseases, and 150 died of other causes.
Methods
The presence / absence of 23 skeletal lesions were assessed for differences in frequency between groups. Sensitivities and specificities were calculated and compared to Dangvard Pedersen et al. (2019).
Results
Lesions on the ventral surface of thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies were observed significantly more often in TB and pulmonary cases than in other cause of death group and yielded a 55% probability of a true TB diagnosis, if observed. An association between skeletal lesions and TB was found for rib and vertebral lesions.
Conclusions
The results suggest that even when not documented to have died of TB, TB-related changes are observed in many individuals in a South African skeletal sample, indicating that they may have been infected with the disease.
Significance
The study provides information that can assist palaeopathologists in making inferences about the prevalence of TB in past populations.
Limitations
Sample sizes were small, and the inclusion of a pulmonary disease group may have confounded the results.
Suggestions for further research
The selection of a control group without any possible contact with TB may improve the results and should be investigated.
期刊介绍：
Paleopathology is the study and application of methods and techniques for investigating diseases and related conditions from skeletal and soft tissue remains. The International Journal of Paleopathology (IJPP) will publish original and significant articles on human and animal (including hominids) disease, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous, dental, and preserved soft tissues at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analysis. Discussion of ways in which these methods can be applied to the reconstruction of health, disease and life histories in the past is central to the discipline, so the journal would also encourage papers covering interpretive and theoretical issues, and those that place the study of disease at the centre of a bioarchaeological or biocultural approach. Papers dealing with historical evidence relating to disease in the past (rather than history of medicine) will also be published. The journal will also accept significant studies that applied previously developed techniques to new materials, setting the research in the context of current debates on past human and animal health.
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