Tuberculosis found in ancient Homo erectus

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A Texas researcher says new findings have revealed evidence of tuberculosis in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey.

Anthropologist John Kappelman of The University of Texas at Austin said the fossil supports the theory that dark-skinned people who migrate northward from low, tropical latitudes produce less vitamin D, which can adversely affect the immune system as well as the skeleton, the university said Friday in a release.

The findings were published in the Dec. 7 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

The Homo erectus found in western Turkey has a series of small lesions etched into the bone of the cranium that are characteristic of Leptomeningitis tuberculosa.

Researchers said higher rates of the infection have been found among Gujarati Indians who live in London, and Senegalese conscripts who served with the French army during World War I.

"Skin color represents one of biology's most elegant adaptations," Kappelman said. "The production of vitamin D in the skin serves as one of the body's first lines of defenses against a whole host of infections and diseases. Vitamin D deficiencies are implicated in hypertension, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer."