Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2019.57.6.575

Intestinal Parasites in an Ottoman Period Latrine from Acre (Israel) Dating to the Early 1800s CE  

Eskew, William H. (Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge)
Ledger, Marissa L. (Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge)
Lloyd, Abigail (Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge)
Pyles, Grace (Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge)
Gosker, Joppe (Israel Antiquities Authority)
Mitchell, Piers D. (Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge)
Publication Information
Parasites, Hosts and Diseases / v.57, no.6, 2019 , pp. 575-580 More about this Journal
Abstract
The aim of this study is to determine the species of parasites that affected the inhabitants of the city of Acre on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean during the Ottoman Period. This is the first archaeological study of parasites in the Ottoman Empire. We analysed sediment from a latrine dating to the early 1800s for the presence of helminth eggs and protozoan parasites which caused dysentery. The samples were examined using light microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. We found evidence for roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), fish tapeworm (Dibothriocephalus sp.), Taenia tapeworm (Taenia sp.), lancet liver fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum), and the protozoa Giardia duodenalis and Entamoeba histolytica. The parasite taxa recovered demonstrate the breadth of species present in this coastal city. We consider the effect of Ottoman Period diet, culture, trade and sanitation upon risk of parasitism in this community living 200 years ago.
Keywords
Dysentery; Mediterranean; Ottoman Empire; ELISA; helminth; paleoparasitology; protozoa;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Yeh HY, Prag K, Clamer C, Humbert JB, Mitchell PD. Human intestinal parasites from a Mamluk Period cesspool in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem: potential indicators of long distance travel in the 15th century AD. Int J Paleopathol 2015; 9: 69-75.   DOI
2 Garcia LS. Diagnostic Medical Parasitology. 5th ed. Washington DC, USA. ASM Press. 2007.
3 Ansel M, Thibaut M. Value of the specific distinction between Ascaris lumbricoides Linne 1758 and Ascaris suum Goeze 1782. Int J Parasitol 1973; 3: 317-319.   DOI
4 Cahill JM, Reinhard K, Tarler D, Warnock P. It had to happen. Scientists examine remains of ancient bathroom. Bibl Arch Rev 1991; 17: 64-69.
5 Zias JE, Tabor JD, Harter-Lailheugue S. Toilets at Qumran, the Essenes, and the scrolls: new anthropological data and old theories. Rev Qumran 2006; 22: 631-640.
6 Mitchell PD, Tepper Y. Intestinal parasitic worm eggs from a crusader period cesspool in the city of Acre (Israel). Levant 2007; 39: 91-95.   DOI
7 Deuteronomy 14:8, Holy Bible: King James Version. Collins. 2011.
8 Leviticus 11:7, Holy Bible: King James Version. Collins. 2011.
9 Abdel Haleem MAS. The Qur'an: A New Translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press. 2008, 2: 173.
10 Smith AF, Kraig B. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press. 2013.
11 Choi S, Cho J, Jung BK, Kim DG, Jeon SJ, Jeon HK, Eom KS, Chai JY. Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense: wide egg size variation in 32 molecularly confirmed adult specimens from Korea. Parasitol Res 2015; 114: 2129-2134.   DOI
12 Howard DA. A History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press. 2017.
13 Shaw SJ. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Vol. 1: Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280-1808. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press. 1976.
14 Ben-Bassat Y, Ben-Artzi Y. Cartographical evidence of efforts to develop Acre during the last decades of Ottoman rule: did the Ottomans neglect the city? Medit Hist Rev 2016; 31: 65-87.
15 Sharon M. Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae. Leiden, Netherlands. Brill. 1997.
16 Bruschi F, Masetti M, Locci MT, Ciranni R, Fornaciari G. Short report: cysticercosis in an Egyptian mummy of the late Ptolemaic period. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2006; 74: 598-599.   DOI
17 Panzac D. International and domestic maritime trade in the Ottoman Empire during the 18th century. Int J Middle East Stud 1992; 24: 189-206.   DOI
18 Ledger ML, Stock F, Schwaiger H, Knipping M, Bruckner H, Ladstatter S, Mitchell PD. Intestinal parasites from public and private latrines and the harbour canal in Roman Period Ephesus, Turkey (1st c. BCE to 6th c. CE). J Archaeol Sci Rep 2018; 21: 289-297.
19 Williams FS, Arnold-Foster T, Yeh HY, Ledger ML, Baeten J, Poblome J, Mitchell PD. Intestinal parasites from the 2nd-5th century AD latrine in the Roman Baths at Sagalassos (Turkey). Int J Paleopathol 2017; 19: 37-42.   DOI
20 Adams AM, Rausch RL. Diphyllobothriasis. In Connor DH, Chandler FW, Schwartz DA, Manz HJ, Lack EE eds, Pathology of Infectious Diseases. Stamford, USA. McGraw-Hill Professional. 1997, pp. 1377-1390.
21 de Marval F, Gottstein B, Weber M, Wicht B. Imported diphyllobothriasis in Switzerland: molecular methods to define a clinical case of Diphyllobothrium infection as Diphyllobothrium dendriticum, August 2010. Euro Surveill 2013; 18: 20355.
22 Wicht B, de Marval F, Gottstein B, Peduzzi R. Imported diphyllobothriasis in Switzerland: molecular evidence of Diphyllobothrium dendriticum (Nitsch, 1824). Parasitol Res 2008; 102: 201-204.   DOI
23 Hernandez-Orts JS, Scholz T, Brabec J, Kuzmina T, Kuchta R. High morphological plasticity and global geographical distribution of the Pacific broad tapeworm Adenocephalus pacificus (syn. Diphyllobothrium pacificum): molecular and morphological survey. Acta Trop 2015; 149: 168-178.   DOI
24 Kia M. Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. Santa Barbara, USA. ABC-CLIO. 2011.
25 Bennett JE, Dolin R, Blaser MJ. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 8th ed. Philadelphia, USA. Elsevier. 2015.
26 Auer H, Aspock H. Helminths and helminthoses in Central Europe: diseases caused by cestodes (tapeworms). Wien Med Wochenschr 2014; 164: 414-423.   DOI
27 Mowlavi G, Mokhtarian K, Makki MS, Mobedi I, Masoumian M, Naseri R, Hoseini G, Nekouei P, Mas-Coma S. Dicrocoelium dendriticum found in a Bronze Age cemetery in western Iran in the pre-Persepolis period: the oldest Asian palaeofinding in the present human infection hottest spot region. Parasitol Int 2015; 64: 251-255.   DOI
28 Lestinova K, Soldanova M, Scholz T, Kuchta R. Eggs as a suitable tool for species diagnosis of causative agents of human diphyllobothriosis (Cestoda). PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2016; 10: e0004721.   DOI
29 Le Bailly M, Mouze S, da Rocha GC, Heim JL, Lichtenberg R, Dunand F, Bouchet F. Identification of Taenia sp. in a mummy from a Christian Necropolis in El-Deir, Oasis of Kharga, ancient Egypt. J Parasitol 2010; 96: 213-215.   DOI
30 Harter S, Le Bailly M, Janot F, Bouchet F. First paleoparasitological study of an embalming rejects jar found in Saqqara, Egypt. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2003; 98: 119-121.   DOI
31 Harter S, Bouchet F, Mumcuoglu KY, Zias JE. Toilet practices among members of the Dead Sea Scrolls sect at Qumran (100 BCE-68 CE). Rev Qumran 2004; 21: 579-584.
32 Mitchell PD, Stern E, Tepper Y. Dysentery in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem: an ELISA analysis of two medieval latrines in the City of Acre (Israel). J Archaeol Sci 2008; 35: 1849-1853.   DOI
33 Mitchell PD, Anastasiou E, Syon D. Human intestinal parasites in crusader Acre: evidence for migration with disease in the medieval period. Int J Paleopathol 2011; 1: 132-137.   DOI
34 Witenberg G. Human parasites in archaeological findings. Bull Israel Explor Soc 1961; 25: 86.
35 Soe MJ, Nejsum P, Seersholm FV, Fredensborg BL, Habraken R, Haase K, Hald MM, Simonsen R, Hojlund F, Blanke L, Merkyte I, Willerslev E, Kapel CMO. Ancient DNA from latrines in Northern Europe and the Middle East (500 BC-1700 AD) reveals past parasites and diet. PLoS One 2018; 13: e0195481.   DOI
36 Nezamabadi M, Aali A, Stollner T, Mashkour M, Le Bailly M. Paleoparasitological analysis of samples from the Chehrabad salt mine (Northwestern Iran). Int J Paleopathol 2013; 3: 229-233.   DOI
37 Anastasiou E, Mitchell PD. Human intestinal parasites from a latrine in the 12th century Frankish castle of Saranda Kolones in Cyprus. Int J Paleopathol 2013; 3: 218-223.   DOI
38 Goncalves ML, Araujo A, Duarte R, da Silva JP, Reinhard K, Bouchet F, Ferreira LF. Detection of Giardia duodenalis antigen in coprolites using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2002; 96: 640-643.   DOI
39 Diamond LS, Clark CG. A redescription of Entamoeba histolytica Schaudinn, 1903 (emended Walker, 1911) separating it from Entamoeba dispar Brumpt, 1925. J Eukaryot Microbiol 1993; 40: 340-344.   DOI
40 Sharp SE, Suarez CA, Duran Y, Poppiti RJ. Evaluation of the Triage Micro Parasite Panel for detection of Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar, and Cryptosporidium parvum in patient stool specimens. J Clin Microbiol 2001; 39: 332-334.   DOI
41 Disli G, Ozcan Z. Waste and clean water systems in Anatolian Seljuk and Ottoman period hospitals. International Journal of Academic Research Part A 2014; 6: 169-177.   DOI
42 Saduman S, Aysun EE. The socio-economic role of waqf system in the Muslim-Ottoman cities' formation and evolution. Trakia J Sci 2009; 7: 272-275.