Human Spiruridiasis Due to Physaloptera Spp. (Nematoda: Physalopteridae) in a Grave of the Shahr-E Sukhteh Archeological Site of the Bronze Age (2800-2500 Bc) in Iran Publisher Pubmed



Makki M¹ ; Dupouycamet J² ; Seyed Sajjadi SM³ ; Moravec F⁴ ; Naddaf SR⁵ ; Mobedi I¹ ; Malekafzali H¹ ; Rezaeian M¹ ; Mohebali M¹ ; Kargar F⁶ ; Mowlavi G¹
Source: Parasite Published:2017

Abstract

Evidence of rare human helminthiasis in paleoparasitological records is scarce. we report here the finding of Physaloptera spp. eggs in a soil sample collected in the pelvic and sacrum bones area of a skeleton excavated from a grave of Shahr-e Sukhteh archeological site dating back to the Bronze Age. The site is located in southeastern Iran and has attracted the attention of numerous archeological teams owing to its vast expanse and diverse archeological findings since 1997. The spirurid nematodes Physaloptera spp. are rarely the cause of human helminthiasis nowadays, but this infection might not have been so rare in ancient populations such as those in the Shahr-e Sukhteh. Out of 320 skeletons analyzed in this study, only one parasitized individual was detected. This surprising result led us to suspect the role of nematophagous fungi and other taphonomic processes in possible false-negative results. This is the first paleoparasitological study on human remains in this archeological site and the first record of ancient human physalopterosis in the Middle East. © M. Makki et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2017.