PALEOPATHOLOGY relevance, are present day diseases not enough to study?
Paleopathology is the study of ancient diseases through fossils of ancient humans and animals.
HOW can we learn about ancient diseases?
The fossils include the bones, these along with providing idea of body structures, embrace scars of issues in soft tissue (like lesions) and bore imprints of vascular tissue which can be used in understanding metabolism. The latest techniques like- paleoproteomics (study of ancient proteins), paleogenomics (study of ancient DNA) provide us details of evolution of our genes and even information about extinct species.
WHY is it important to learn about the long past history of these diseases?
Humans have been struggling with diseases as long as we remember, these diseases and infections existed and evolved with us, understanding their evolution and co-existence can help in cracking novel treatment options. We can use modern technology to revive certain useful genes which became non functional during course of evolution (like the gene for Ascorbic acid) or create personalized treatment plans for individuals based on their ancestral data, like a mutation on gene 3 showed association with higher risk of respiratory infections like COVID in descendants of Neanderthals.
Just like evolution study doesn’t help in curing appendicitis but gives answer to question why we have an appendix, similarly it will help us in answering many of our ‘Whys’, why are more vulnerable to certain diseases.
Can you think of any of such applications paleopathology can have in medicine?
MBH/PS