Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
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Paleoparasitological Studies on Mummies of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea

  • Seo, Min (Department of Parasitology, Dankook University College of Medicine) ;
  • Araujo, Adauto (Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ) ;
  • Reinhard, Karl (School of Natural Resouces, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) ;
  • Chai, Jong Yil (Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Shin, Dong Hoon (Institute of Forensic Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine)
  • Received : 2013.09.16
  • Accepted : 2014.05.14
  • Published : 2014.06.30
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Abstract

Paleoparasitology is the application of conventional or molecular investigative techniques to archeological samples in order to reveal parasitic infection patterns among past populations. Although pioneering studies already have reported key paleoparasitological findings around the world, the same sorts of studies had not, until very recently, been conducted in sufficient numbers in Korea. Mummified remains of individuals dating to the Korean Joseon Dynasty actually have proved very meaningful to concerned researchers, owing particularly to their superb preservation status, which makes them ideal subjects for paleoparasitological studies. Over the past several years, our study series on Korean mummies has yielded very pertinent data on parasitic infection patterns prevailing among certain Joseon Dynasty populations. In this short review, we summarized the findings and achievements of our recent paleoparasitological examinations of Joseon mummies and discussed about the prospects for future research in this vein.

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References

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