By: Cassidy Delamarter, University Communications and Marketing
Italian officials have provided an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the
University of South Florida access to the remains of individuals who died from the
Black Death, a plague that killed millions of people in the 13th century, to help
determine the effectiveness of quarantines.
The team from the USF Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment is extracting DNA from the teeth of 900 skeletons excavated from the Old Lazzaretto,
an island off the coast of Italy where officials built the world’s first isolation
hospital in 1423.
“This is the first time that we could have a set of DNA sequences of pathogens present
at a single location, and in parallel, DNA changes in the local populations,” said
Robert Tykot, professor of anthropology. “Thus, we can study for the first time, the co-evolution
of pathogens and humans, unhindered by the fast mutations of modern viruses or the
presence of vaccinated people.”
USF visiting research fellow and Venice native Andrea Vianello is coordinating the project with preservation groups to develop the site’s first genetic
database, allowing them to trace the evolution of pathogens and humans over the span
of 300 years to determine if the introduction of containment measures, such as masks
and isolation, impacted genetics.
“The Venetians invented lockdowns and masks to address pandemics and they seemed to
work,” Vianello said. “Our project will test scientifically their effectiveness, before
vaccines and medicines existed. We will see if any epidemics were stopped by the quarantine
island.”
The team launched the historical plagues research effort earlier this year when they
began tracking Justinianic, the world’s first plague to strike during the previous
millennium, at a mass burial site in Jerash, Jordan. Tykot and Vianello organized
an international conference at the Scuola Grande di San Marco in June to present their findings from Jordan and explain the importance of understanding
past pandemics to address and manage current and future outbreaks.
Lead geneticist Rays Jiang, associate professor in the College of Public Health, helped identify bacterium of
the plague in Jordan and is excited to expand their research, describing the Old Lazzaretto,
a World Heritage Site, as a time capsule and treasure trove for the field of genetics.
“This unique quarantine island can contain devastating plague pathogens, newly introduced
syphilis pathogen and anthrax pathogen that jumped from animals,” Jiang said. “For
the first time, it captures multiple pathogens coexisting in human populations over
three centuries.”
The team is applying for funding to further analyze the remains and conduct proteomics,
an analysis that can reveal how genetics are expressed and can facilitate drug development
by providing a comprehensive map of protein interactions associated with disease.
“Studying ancient pandemics is useful for preventing future ones as it allows us to
identify epidemic patterns, track pathogen evolution, understand cultural and social
contexts, learn from mistakes, anticipate challenges and inform public health policies,”
Jiang said.
The findings from this project will be displayed in a permanent exhibit at the new
National Archaeological Museum of the Venetian Lagoon in Italy, expected to open in about five years.
Additional contributors to the project include the Archeoclub, Venice Superintendence of Antiquities, Professor Gloria Ferreira in the USF Department of Molecular Medicine, USF research scientist Swamy Rakesh Adapa and Gregory O Corey-Crowe from Florida Atlantic University.
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