An international team of researchers led by University College Dublin (UCD) has uncovered genetic evidence tracing the history of sheep pox back at least 3,500 years.
Researchers extracted ancient DNA from animal skins used to make parchment for medieval manuscripts, including the 1,000-year-old York Gospels.
Sheep pox is a highly contagious viral disease which can spread rapidly through flocks and cause high mortality, particularly among young animals.
It can also result in production losses through damage to wool, meat and milk yields.
Louis L’Hôte, PhD candidate at UCD and lead author of the study said the recording of pathogens “has completely changed our understanding of infectious disease in the past”.
He said the research shows that libraries across the world could also contain the genetic traces of disease outbreaks in animals in the past.
Manuscripts analysed during the study included the York Gospels and the Corpus Glossary of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, one of the earliest English dictionaries.
Contamination
One of the most unexpected findings from the study was the detection of sheep pox virus on parchment made from calf skin and goat skin, suggesting either cross-species infections or contamination during the parchment-making process.
Dr Kevin G Daly, associate professor at UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and the study’s supervising author, said that the parchment has allowed them to understand the history of diseases in livestock.
By combining the study of manuscripts with even older samples from Bronze Age sheep teeth, researchers were able to trace sheep pox back a further 200 years.
“People around the world are still fighting against this pathogen – there is currently an outbreak of sheep pox in Greece, causing much economic damage,” said Louis L’Hôte.
SHARING OPTIONS