2,500-year-old poop from Jerusalem toilets contain oldest evidence of dysentery parasite

By analyzing poop from biblical-era bathrooms in Jerusalem, archaeologists have found the oldest identified proof of a tiny parasite that causes “traveler’s diarrhea,” a brand new examine finds.

This microscopic parasite, the protozoan Giardia duodenalis, may cause dysentery, an intestinal an infection that leads to extreme, bloody diarrhea and is usually accompanied by abdomen cramps and a fever. The brand new analysis, revealed Might 26 within the journal Parasitology, dates the oldest proof of this protozoan in human feces to greater than 2,500 years in the past.

The researchers found proof of G. duodenalis underneath stone rest room seats beforehand discovered at two massive websites that had been probably elite residences courting to the seventh to sixth centuries B.C. The stone blocks had a curved floor for sitting, a big central gap for defecating, and a smaller gap that was presumably for urination, and had been located above a cesspit. As a result of the traditional bathrooms had been nonetheless of their unique areas, a singular alternative arose for specialists to determine microorganisms within the outdated poop.

Earlier analysis into the cesspits has revealed eggs from whipworms, roundworms, pinworms and tapeworms, suggesting that Iron Age sanitation practices had been missing. However whereas these eggs are strong and may protect for 1000’s of years, it’s far more troublesome to detect the delicate cysts produced by protozoa.