Medieval manuscripts are "biological time capsules" for deadly sheeppox virus
Other archives and libraries around the world may also contain genetic traces of past disease outbreaks.
Medieval manuscripts have emerged as unexpected repositories of ancient pathogens, including the deadly sheeppox virus. This virus, which has caused numerous outbreaks in livestock, has remained endemic in some European regions despite its near-eradication in the 20th century. To uncover the virus's evolutionary history, researchers extracted and sequenced sheeppox DNA preserved within the parchment of numerous medieval manuscripts.
Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances, reveal that sheeppox has plagued Eurasian sheep herds for at least three and a half millennia. Co-author Louis L’Hôte, a graduate student at University College Dublin, notes that parchment may also harbor the genetic traces of past animal disease outbreaks in archives and libraries worldwide.
The earliest recorded evidence of sheeppox infection dates to the first century CE, with Roman accounts describing skin lesions in infected animals. Frequent outbreaks were documented in various European regions throughout the Middle Ages, declining in 17th-century France before re-emerging in the 18th and 19th centuries, often with high mortality rates. Great Britain's first recorded case of sheeppox did not occur until 1847.
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