[en] Evidence for louse-transmitted diseases in soldiers of Napoleon's grand army in Vilnius
Clé
hal_000397
HALId
halshs-00008119
Date export
2024-03-22
Monogr
The journal of infectious diseases
Instance
HALSHS
Meeting
The journal of infectious diseases - United States
Mots clés en
enHumanities and Social Sciences/Biological anthropology
enLouse-bon infectious diseases
enNapoleon's Grand Army
enVilnius
enLithuania
Mots clés fr
Précision / Commentaire
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/journal/issues/v193n1/34959/34959.text.html
Date de publication
Langue du document
Anglais
Résumé
[en] Background. Many soldiers in Napoleon's Grand Army died of infectious diseases during its retreat from Russia. Because soldiers were commonly infested with body lice, it has been speculated that louse-borne infectious diseases, such as epidemic typhus (caused by Rickettsia prowazekii), were common. Methods. We investigated this possibility during recent excavations of a mass grave of Napoleon's soldiers in Vilnius, Lithuania. Segments of 5 body lice, identified morphologically and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing, were found in earth from the grave that also contained fragments of soldiers' uniforms. Results. DNA of Bartonella quintana (the agent of trench fever) was identified by PCR and sequencing in 3 of the lice. Similarly, PCR and sequencing of dental pulp from the remains of 35 soldiers revealed DNA of B. quintana in 7 soldiers and DNA of R. prowazekii in 3 other soldiers. Conclusions. Our results show that louse-borne infectious diseases affected nearly one-third of Napoleon's soldiers buried in Vilnius and indicate that these diseases might have been a major factor in the French retreat from Russia.
Auditoire
International
Créateur
Est une partie de
Editeur
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Type
Nom de la revue
Journal of Infectious Diseases
Collection
Domaine traduit
HAL
Format du depot
Notice
Est une version de
Date de modification
2006-01-23
Licence
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Citation bibliographique
Didier Raoult, Olivier Dutour, Rimantas Jankauskas, L. Houhamdi, Pierre-Edouard Fournier, et al.. Evidence for louse-transmitted diseases in soldiers of Napoleon's grand army in Vilnius. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2006, 193 (1), pp.112-120. [halshs-00008119]
Citer cette ressource
[en] Evidence for louse-transmitted diseases in soldiers of Napoleon's grand army in Vilnius,
dans Études nordiques,
consulté le 11 Décembre 2024, https://etudes-nordiques.cnrs.fr/s/numenord/item/11476