[Newsdesk] Research brief

Squirrels might have caused or maintained an epidemic of leprosy in medieval England. Genetic analysis of Mycobacterium leprae from a pre-Norman skull found in a garden in Suffolk has lent support to the suggestion that East Anglia was the epicentre of the medieval leprosy epidemic. The M leprae strain found on the skull matches the strain found on skeletal remains from medieval Denmark and Sweden. The bacteria might have arrived on the east coast of England along viking trade routes for the then-popular squirrel meat and fur.

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