Sunday 21 October 2012

Iceman Autopsy - Otzi reveals Borrelia was around 5000+ years ago in Europe.

Otzi, the famous Neolithic mummy lay for 5,300 years in icy conditions which preserved his body after he suffered a fatal attack that had left the Iceman dead, high upon a mountain.

Austrian authorities first recovered the mummy in 1991. Over the years, many invasive explorations of the mummy were conducted, including x-ray and CT scan imaging studies and an analysis of the mummy's mitochondrial DNA.

In 2001, a radiologist named Paul Gostner noticed a detail that had been overlooked in the images. An arrowhead was found to be buried in the Iceman's left shoulder, indicating that he had been shot from behind.

It is hypothesized, that if he had not been shot, Otzi would probably would have died of a heart attack or stroke in ten years.

"Perhaps most surprising, researchers found the genetic footprint of bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi in his DNA—making the Iceman the earliest known human infected by the bug that causes Lyme disease."


http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/iceman-autopsy/hall-text