Identificación histológica y molecular de Treponema pallidum en una muestra ósea panameña de 720 años de antigüedad

Abstract

The present study is part of the macroproject “Archaeological phylogenetics of pre-Hispanic human groups in Panama”. A 720-year-old tibia sample (U-114) was analyzed with evidence of hyperinflammatory periosteal reaction of infectious origin. The sample was analyzed using radiology, optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and molecular diagnosis of a section of the Tpp15 gene. Given the difficulty of differentiating the type of treponematosis present in bone remains, morphological, histological and molecular analyses, as combined lines of evidence, provide a more complete and precise diagnosis. The age of the individual, the presence of periosteal reaction, ultrastructural alterations at the histological level and the detection of the T191995C polymorphism that characterizes Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum, provides an interesting diagnosis of the presence of syphilitic infection in the pre-Hispanic Panamanian population.