Vikings brought leprosy to Ireland

[Judi Lynn]

Vikings brought leprosy to Ireland
Published: 31 January 2019

Research led by the University of Southampton, Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Surrey has produced new evidence that suggests the Vikings brought leprosy to Ireland.

This finding is significant as little is known about leprosy in Medieval Ireland and the discovery adds to the growing body of information about the evolution and spread of leprosy in the past.

The study focused on five cases of probable leprosy identified in human skeletal remains excavated from burials in Ireland. Three of the individuals were from a cemetery in Dublin, and two came from County Kildare and County Antrim.

Genetic investigations (genotyping) of the leprosy bacterium (M. leprae) strains in two of the Dublin individuals, which dated from the early 10th century through to the 13th century, revealed they had been affected by two different strains of leprosy. One had probable origins in Scandinavia (Type 3), while the other first developed in the Middle East (Type 2).

More:
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2019/01/viking-leprosy.page

[marble falls]

1. My mother used to tell my sisters: "Stay away from sailors!!!"