The cold virus turned out to be hundreds of thousands of years older than humanity
The common cold appeared much earlier than the species Homo sapiens, scientists from the Danish University of Copenhagen found out. They examined fragments of milk teeth 31 thousand years old. The analysis identified microscopic strains of several well-known human infections, New Scientist reports.
The teeth were found during excavations near the Siberian Yana River. They belonged to a representative of an unknown ethnic group called the “ancient northern Siberians”. According to scientists, they may have been relatives of Native Americans.
The team analyzed the DNA of the teeth and found low-grade genetic material from four types of herpes virus. They also identified better-quality genomes for the human adenovirus C, which is associated with the common cold.
“Modern people almost certainly became infected with these viruses in childhood,” – noted the authors of the scientific work.
This is the oldest known evidence of viral infections found in members of the genus Homo. Previously, the oldest virus was considered to be 7000 years old.
Comparison of the ancient strain of adenovirus with modern strains suggests that their common ancestor arose between 487,000 and 963,000 years ago. The most probable date is 702 thousand years ago.
Interestingly, the species Homo sapiens, according to scientists, appeared 200 thousand years ago. It can be assumed that the common cold struck our ancient relatives, including the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
New technologies are enabling scientists to better research medical history. So, the hepatitis B virus has infected people at least since the Bronze Age – its traces were found in the remains of 4500 years ago from Mongolia. The Egyptians, who lived 5000 years ago, noticed signs of tuberculous processes.
Recently it became known that scientists have identified the oldest victim of the plague. He was a young man who lived five thousand years ago in the territory of modern Latvia.
