Duration: 2020-2024
Abstract: The project aims to investigate the relationship between chronic stress, age, health conditions, and immune status concerning the development and severity of syphilis in documented skeletal samples. It seeks to enhance our understanding of historical factors influencing disease vulnerability and their impact on human experiences. The research may also offer insights for modern syphilis screening and diagnosis by identifying host characteristics associated with persistent infection.
The research team will analyse human host traits linked to syphilis resolution in early stages (primary, secondary) and persistence in late stages (tertiary), which can lead to severe symptoms and even death. They will use data from skeletal collections, looking into factors like chronic stress, nutrition, age, co-morbid diseases, and excessive inflammation (hyper-inflammatory response/phenotype) associated with late-stage syphilis. Additionally, they plan to develop a multi-stage interpretive model for bioarchaeological studies of syphilis, enabling the reconstruction of a host’s immune status during early and late-stage infection.
The University of Coimbra, with the participation of researcher Célia Lopes from CIAS, will collaborate on this project, providing access to identified osteological collections, namely to the individuals previously identified as having suffered from syphilis during their lives.
Coordinator: Molly Zuckerman
Participants: Célia Cristina Rodrigues Lopes (CIAS)
Partner institutions: Universidade Estatal do Mississippi
Financial support: Nacional Science Fundation (USA)
Reference: 1946203