Antique parasite worms its way into human history

[riky]

Antique parasite worms its way into human history

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/antique-parasite-worms-way-human-history-231123838.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/c_knKqnTL4PfIBj31pbEKA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/d636e8dac3c862ca8ceecf485bd585ce348d5424.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="Iraqis wade in the waters of the Euphrates River in Hindiya on May 19, 2009" align="left" title="Iraqis wade in the waters of the Euphrates River in Hindiya on May 19, 2009" border="0" /></a>Forensic sleuths said Thursday they had found the oldest known egg of the bilharzia parasite, revealing how human advancement enabled a tiny freshwater worm to become a curse for millions. In a letter published by the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a team of archaeologists and biologists said they found a 6,200-year-old egg of the feared intestinal parasite in an ancient grave in northern Syria. The site, Tell Zeidan, is in the valley of the Euphrates -- part of the fabled &quot;Fertile Crescent&quot; where humans settled down to farm nearly 8,000 years ago, making the historic leap from hunter-gatherer. The egg, say the researchers, is from one of two species of schistosomes -- flatworms that cause bilharzia, which affects hundreds of millions of people in tropical Asia, Africa and Latin America.</p><br clear="all"/>

Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login