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Health

DNA reveals Romans helped spread TB across three continents

By Clare Wilson

3 July 2018

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

What did the Roman Empire ever do for us? It spread tuberculosis

Marco Ravagli / Barcroft Media

The Romans gave us roads, public toilets and the modern calendar, but we may also have them to thank for spreading a deadly disease: tuberculosis.

A genetic analysis suggests that while TB first arose about 5000 years ago in Africa, the Roman Empire was behind its more recent, rapid spread around Europe and beyond.

TB is a lung infection that, ¾±´ÚÌý±ô±ð´Ú³ÙÌý³Ü²Ô³Ù°ù±ð²¹³Ù±ð»å, can cause a chronic cough, weight loss and a lingering death. By some estimates the bacterium that causes it, Mycobacterium…

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