Leprosy DNA Extracted From Medieval Skeletons in Denmark

The Danish medieval town of Odense is the final resting place for hundreds of people who died with a frightening disease: Leprosy. They didn’t know at the time that their unfortunate condition was caused by an infection of the Mycobacterium leprae bacterium.

But hundreds of years after their deaths, scientists have found traces of the bacteria in the skeletal remains. The Odense skeletons are so well-preserved that the scientists were able to analyse DNA of the disease causing bacteria after 700 years in the ground.

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