{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T23:36:47Z","timestamp":1790725007375,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,8]],"date-time":"2023-12-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701993600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005902","name":"D\u00e9l\u00e9gation G\u00e9n\u00e9rale pour l'Armement","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005902","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>The lack of well-preserved material upon which to base the paleo-microbiological detection of <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> parasites has prevented extensive documentation of past outbreaks of malaria in Europe. By trapping intact erythrocytes at the time of death, dental pulp has been shown to be a suitable tissue for documenting ancient intraerythrocytic pathogens such as <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> parasites.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Total DNA and proteins extracted from 23 dental pulp specimens collected from individuals exhumed from the 9th to 13th century archaeological site in Mariana, Corsica, were analyzed using open-mind paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry and direct metagenomics, <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic>-targeting immunochromatography assays. All experiments incorporated appropriate negative controls.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Paleo-auto-immunohistochemistry revealed the presence of parasites <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> spp. in the dental pulp of nine teeth. A further immunochromatography assay identified the presence of at least one <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> antigen in nine individuals. The nine teeth, for which the PfHRP-2 antigen specific of <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> was detected, were also positive using paleo-autoimmunohistochemistry and metagenomics.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Dental pulp erythrocytes proved to be suitable for the direct paleomicrobiology documentation of malaria in nine individuals buried in medieval Corsica, in agreement with historical data. This provides additional information on the millennial dynamics of <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic> spp. in the Mediterranean basin.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2023.1265964","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,8]],"date-time":"2023-12-08T12:44:40Z","timestamp":1702039480000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The millennial dynamics of malaria in the mediterranean basin: documenting Plasmodium spp. on the medieval island of Corsica"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Mahmoud Abdelwadoud","family":"Boualam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anne-Ga\u00eblle","family":"Corbara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"G\u00e9rard","family":"Aboudharam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Istria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michel","family":"Signoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caroline","family":"Costedoat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michel","family":"Drancourt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bruno","family":"Pradines","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1101\/cshperspect.a025452","article-title":"Biology of malaria transmission.","volume":"7","author":"Meibalan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med."},{"key":"B2","year":"2022","journal-title":"World malaria report 2022."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/1475-2875-9-231","article-title":"Malaria risk in Corsica, former hot spot of malaria in France.","volume":"9","author":"Toty","year":"2010","journal-title":"Malar J."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0120367","article-title":"Field application of SD Bioline malaria Ag Pf\/Pan rapid diagnostic test for malaria in Greece.","volume":"10","author":"Tseroni","year":"2015","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"R1220","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2016.10.016","article-title":"Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 1st\u20132nd century CE Southern Italy.","volume":"26","author":"Marciniak","year":"2016","journal-title":"Curr Biol"},{"key":"B6","first-page":"195","article-title":"Biomolecular archaeology of malaria.","volume":"3","author":"Sallares","year":"2001","journal-title":"Anc Biomol."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"583","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trstmh.2010.06.007","article-title":"Plasmodium falciparum immunodetection in bone remains of members of the Renaissance Medici Family (Florence, Italy, Sixteenth Century).","volume":"104","author":"Fornaciari","year":"2010","journal-title":"Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actatropica.2015.09.002","article-title":"The identification of malaria in paleopathology-An in-depth assessment of the strategies to detect malaria in ancient remains.","volume":"152","author":"Bianucci","year":"2015","journal-title":"Acta Trop."},{"key":"B9","author":"Arrow","year":"2004","journal-title":"Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance."},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2021.691095","article-title":"Malaria in Europe: A historical perspective.","volume":"8","author":"Boualam","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Med"},{"key":"B11","first-page":"533","article-title":"R\u00e9apparition du paludisme en Corse. 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