Palaeohistopathology of Treponematosis in Human Bone
type: CreativeWork
description: Treponematosis, comprising yaws, venereal syphilis, bejel, and pinta, has a long history of infection in human populations and continues to have significant global health impacts. As such, skeletal manifestations and pathophysiology of this disease are of interest in palaeopathology and medicine. Histology, the study of microscopic tissue structure, has been applied in paleopathological analyses of treponematosis in an extremely limited manner, mostly in case studies through qualitative descriptions. In this thesis, 65 archaeological individuals are examined for qualitative (histomorphology) and quantitative (histomorphometry) histology to evaluate microscopic effects of treponematosis on bone. The tibia, a bone commonly manifesting treponematosis lesions, was sampled in adult Pacific islander skeletal remains recovered from Taumako, Solomon Islands (~440-150ybp), a region of ancient and ongoing treponemal endemicity. A unique case of the frontal bone exhibiting an advanced diagnostic lesion of treponematosis - caries sicca - is also examined for histological changes using skeletal remains from a different Pacific site in Tonga, 'Atele (~460ybp). Histology sections were produced following methods appropriate for archaeological bone and examined using optical microscopy under transmitted and polarised light in individuals with no macroscopically visible pathology (n=40) and those showing lesions associated with treponematosis (n=25). Histomorphological features identified in this study, including grenzstreifen, polsters and agate bone, were compared to published cases, and their diagnostic value was evaluated. Histomorphometric variables included bone vascularity and vascular canal area measuring localised bone blood supply. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted to compare the two groups of individuals. The histomorphological features identified in this thesis were found to be diagnostically associated with treponematosis. Analyses of histom…
abstract: Treponematosis, comprising yaws, venereal syphilis, bejel, and pinta, has a long history of infection in human populations and continues to have significant global health impacts. As such, skeletal manifestations and pathophysiology of this disease are of interest in palaeopathology and medicine. Histology, the study of microscopic tissue structure, has been applied in paleopathological analyses of treponematosis in an extremely limited manner, mostly in case studies through qualitative descriptions. In this thesis, 65 archaeological individuals are examined for qualitative (histomorphology) and quantitative (histomorphometry) histology to evaluate microscopic effects of treponematosis on bone. The tibia, a bone commonly manifesting treponematosis lesions, was sampled in adult Pacific islander skeletal remains recovered from Taumako, Solomon Islands (~440-150ybp), a region of ancient and ongoing treponemal endemicity. A unique case of the frontal bone exhibiting an advanced diagnostic lesion of treponematosis - caries sicca - is also examined for histological changes using skeletal remains from a different Pacific site in Tonga, 'Atele (~460ybp). Histology sections were produced following methods appropriate for archaeological bone and examined using optical microscopy under transmitted and polarised light in individuals with no macroscopically visible pathology (n=40) and those showing lesions associated with treponematosis (n=25). Histomorphological features identified in this study, including grenzstreifen, polsters and agate bone, were compared to published cases, and their diagnostic value was evaluated. Histomorphometric variables included bone vascularity and vascular canal area measuring localised bone blood supply. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted to compare the two groups of individuals. The histomorphological features identified in this thesis were found to be diagnostically associated with treponematosis. Analyses of histom…
author: Cooke, Karen
language: en_AU
date published: 2024
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:54:38Z
provider: Australian National University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian National University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/311853