Bookeditors, Michel Drancourt, Didier Raoult.
Summary: "Only recently was it determined that two of the world's most devastating plagues, the plague of Justinian and the medieval Black Death, were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen. Use of paleomicrobiological techniques led to this discovery. This work is just one example of the historical mysteries that this emerging field has helped to clarify. Others, such as when tuberculosis began to afflict humans, the role of lice in plague pandemics, and the history of smallpox, are explored and further illuminated in Paleomicrobiology of Humans. Led by editors Michel Drancourt and Didier Raoult, the book's expert contributors address larger issues using paleomicrobiology. These include the recognition of human remains associated with epidemic outbreaks, identification of the graves associated with disasters, and the discovery of demographic structures that reveal the presence of an epidemic moment. In addition, this book reviews the technical approaches and controversies associated with recovering and sequencing very old DNA and surveys modern human diseases that have ancient roots."--Back cover.
Contents:
1. Demographic Patterns Distinctive of Epidemic Cemeteries in Archaeological Samples / Sacha Kacki
2. Characterization of the Funeral Groups Associated with Plague Epidemics / Michel Signoli
3. Paleogenetics and Past Infections: the Two Faces of the Coin of Human Immune Evolution / Didier Raoult
4. A Personal View of How Paleomicrobiology Aids Our Understanding of the Role of Lice in Plague Pandemics / Didier Raoult
5. Sources of materials for Paleomicrobiology / Gerard Aboudharam
6. Paleomicrobiology Data: Authentification and Interpretation / Michel Drancourt
7. Human Coprolites as a Source for Paleomicrobiology / Matthieu Le Bailly
8. Ancient Resistome / Jean-Marc Rolain
9. The History Of Epidemic Typhus / Didier Raoult
10. Paleopathology of Human Infections: Old Bones, Antique Books, Ancient and Modern Molecules / Olivier Dutour
11. Past Bartonelloses / Pierre-Edouard Fournier
12. Paleomicrobiology of Human Tuberculosis / Helen Donoghue
13. Paleomicrobiology of Leprosy / Mark Spigelman and Mauro Rubini
14. Past Intestinal Parasites / Matthieu Le Bailly and Adauto Araujo
15. Paleopathology and Paleomicrobiology of Malaria / Andreas Nerlich
16. History of Smallpox and Its Spread in Human Populations / Catherine Theves, Eric Crubezy, and Philippe Biagini
17. Cholera / Donatella Lippi, Eduardo Gotuzzo, and Saverio Caini
18. Human Lice in Paleoentomology and Paleomicrobiology / Rezak Drali, Kosta Y. Mumcuoglu, and Didier Raoult.