Ancient teeth - One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a 17th century man was a fervent smoker of clay pipes. Traces of the habit are visible where the hard clay pipe, usually put in the same place in the mouth, has worn the teeth. Credit: Dr Barbara Veselka
Ancient teeth - One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a 17th century man was a fervent smoker of clay pipes. Traces of the habit are visible where the hard clay pipe, usually put in the same place in the mouth, has worn the teeth. Credit: Dr Barbara Veselka Ancient genomes from the herpes virus that commonly causes lip sores - and currently infects some 3.7 billion people globally - have been uncovered and sequenced for the first time by an international team involving UCL scientists. The latest research, published in the journal Science Advances and co-led by University of Cambridge and Tartu University academics, suggests that the HSV-1 virus strain behind facial herpes as we know it today arose around five thousand years ago, in the wake of vast Bronze Age migrations into Europe from the Steppe grasslands of Eurasia, and associated population booms that drove rates of transmission. Herpes has a history stretching back millions of years, and forms of the virus infect species from bats to coral. Despite its contemporary prevalence among humans, however, scientists say that ancient examples of HSV-1 were surprisingly hard to find. Co-lead author Dr Lucy van Dorp (UCL Genetics Institute) said: "Our study provides the first direct evidence that this virus, which is found at extremely high prevalence today, also circulated in historic times.
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