The millennial dynamics of malaria in the mediterranean basin: documenting Plasmodium spp. on the medieval island of Corsica

Mahmoud Abdelwadoud Boualam; Anne-Gaëlle Corbara; Gérard Aboudharam; Daniel Istria; Michel Signoli; Caroline Costedoat; Michel Drancourt; Bruno Pradines

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1265964

The millennial dynamics of malaria in the mediterranean basin: documenting Plasmodium spp. on the medieval island of Corsica

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Dec 8:10:1265964. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1265964. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mahmoud Abdelwadoud Boualam^{1

2}, Anne-Gaëlle Corbara³, Gérard Aboudharam^{1

2}, Daniel Istria³, Michel Signoli⁴, Caroline Costedoat⁴, Michel Drancourt^{1

2}, Bruno Pradines^{1

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.
² Aix-Marseille Univ, Institut de recherche pour le développement , Microbes, Evolution, Phylogénie et Infection, IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.
³ Aix-Marseille Univ, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, LA3M, Aix-en-Provence, France.
⁴ Aix-Marseille Université, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Établissement français du sang, Anthropologie bio-culturelle, droit, éthique et santé, Marseille, France.
⁵ Unité Parasitologie et Entomologie, Département Microbiologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées, Marseille, France.
⁶ Aix-Marseille Univ, Institut de recherche pour le développement, Service de Santé des Armées, Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille, VITROME, Marseille, France.
⁷ Centre National de Référence du Paludisme, Marseille, France.

Abstract

Introduction: The lack of well-preserved material upon which to base the paleo-microbiological detection of Plasmodium parasites has prevented extensive documentation of past outbreaks of malaria in Europe. By trapping intact erythrocytes at the time of death, dental pulp has been shown to be a suitable tissue for documenting ancient intraerythrocytic pathogens such as Plasmodium parasites.

Methods: Total DNA and proteins extracted from 23 dental pulp specimens collected from individuals exhumed from the 9th to 13th century archaeological site in Mariana, Corsica, were analyzed using open-mind paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry and direct metagenomics, Plasmodium-targeting immunochromatography assays. All experiments incorporated appropriate negative controls.

Results: Paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry revealed the presence of parasites Plasmodium spp. in the dental pulp of nine teeth. A further immunochromatography assay identified the presence of at least one Plasmodium antigen in nine individuals. The nine teeth, for which the PfHRP-2 antigen specific of P. falciparum was detected, were also positive using paleo-autoimmunohistochemistry and metagenomics.

Conclusion: Dental pulp erythrocytes proved to be suitable for the direct paleomicrobiology documentation of malaria in nine individuals buried in medieval Corsica, in agreement with historical data. This provides additional information on the millennial dynamics of Plasmodium spp. in the Mediterranean basin.

Keywords: Corsica; Plasmodium; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium ovale; ancient malaria; immunochromatography; metagenomic; paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Délégation Générale des Armées (grant NBC-2-B-2120).