Researchers isolate parvovirus from ancient human remains

Airborne and bloodborne human parvovirus B19 causes a number of illnesses, including the childhood rash known as fifth disease, chronic anemia in AIDS patients, arthritis in elderly people, aplastic crisis in people with bone marrow-related illness, and hydrops fetalis in pregnant women. A single-stranded DNA virus, it has no vaccine or cure, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms until the immune system can suppress the virus. Most viral genomic sequences available for research are no more than 50 years old. Access to older samples could provide researchers with detailed knowledge of extinct genetic diversity and viral phylodynamics. An international collaborative of researchers now report their analysis of ancient human parvovirus samples taken from the dental and skeletal remains of 1,578 people who lived between 500 and 6,900 years ago. They have published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.