The real-life curse of the pharaohs that can kill you: what was found in ancient mummies (3 photos)

If you are a conspiracy lover or, for example, Egyptology, then, most likely heard about some kind of "curse of the pharaohs." Yes, definitely boats of all these theories and terrible legends have long been crashed against the harsh the reality is no mummies are trying to kill us. It just can kill what is inside them.





Of course, we are a little dramatic. However, in reality, quite it was recently discovered that there is a pathogen in ancient Egyptian mummies, which destroys the skeleton from the inside. In particular, this is a very ancient line tuberculosis, and a whole gene is responsible for its presence. And, in short, he absolutely all modern strains are still dormant.



And if it’s long, then today such complications will kill you completely. small degree of probability. A form of tuberculosis has generally been found in mummies that are under nine thousand years old. Typically, if a person falls ill with this infection, then he has damage to the spine.

The last major case of infections with a disease that reached bones, refers to the mid-2000s - then in North Carolina, USA, a tourist returning from Vietnam infected his colleagues. And in as a result, in four of the six cases, the infection reached the bones.

For a very long time, doctors could not understand how happened. But here's a new study showing that this strain terrorized the ancient Egyptians and even some pharaohs.

Then, in North Carolina, it was proved that the strain belongs to genetic line 1 is one of the most ancient forms of TB. At that time there were analyzed another 225 strains of tuberculosis, by the way. And just like that he most likely to affect the bones. As a rule, now can only be found on the coast of the Indian Ocean.



However, the cause of such unpleasant consequences is now known. diseases - a single gene that encodes the EsxM protein. In that strain, it is present in full, but in the "descendants" of the ancient tuberculosis, it is somewhat truncated. By the way, the theory has already been confirmed and on practice. In particular, on zebrafish, which were infected with both strain options.

The ancient strain moved very fast, and soon began to destroy the tissues of the fin and tail, and more modern strains were not as aggressive. As a result, more than 3 thousand strains were tested, and it turns out that they all contain this gene. However, almost everywhere “sleeping”, so not very beneficial to the mind. Therefore, tuberculosis is now transmitted through the air without destroying your skeleton. What can not be said about pharaohs.