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BBC,
16/02/2010, by Michelle Roberts, Health reporter, BBC News
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The Egyptian
'boy king' Tutankhamun may well have died of malaria after the disease
ravaged a body crippled by a rare bone disorder, experts say.
The findings could lay to rest
conspiracy theories of murder. The scientists spent the last two years
scrutinising the mummified remains of the 19-year old pharaoh to extract his
blood and DNA. This revealed traces of the malaria parasite in his blood, the
Journal of the American Medical Association says.
Shrouded in
mystery
Ever since Howard Carter's
discovery of Tutankhamun's intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922,
scholars have speculated over why the 19-year old 'boy king' died so young. Some
believe he was killed by a fall from his chariot. Others suspect foul play.
Because he died so young, and
left no heirs, scholars have speculated that, instead, he may have suffered
from a disease that ran in his family. Artifacts have shown the royalty of
that era as having a somewhat curvaceous and rather feminine appearance,
which some say would be typical of inherited conditions like Marfan syndrome.
But Egypt's chief archaeologist
Dr Zahi Hawass rejects these explanations. He and his team have painstakingly
picked over the remains of Tutankhamun and 10 other royal mummies from his
family - two of which they have now confirmed using genetic fingerprinting to
be the young king's grandmother and most probably his father.
They say there is no compelling
evidence to suggest King Tut or indeed any of his royal ancestors had
Marfan's - the voluptuous artefacts, they believe, are a red herring and
merely reflect the fashion of the time.
But they did confirm that the
king may have had some form of inherited disease, a rare bone disorder
affecting the foot called Kohler disease II, as well as a club foot and a
curvature of the spine.
Scientific
'proof'
Although this was not his
ultimate downfall, it would explain why among his possessions there were
sticks and staves that could have been used as walking canes, say the
researchers. Not long before his death, the king fractured his leg, and the
scientists think this was important. The bone did not heal properly and began
to die. This would have left the young king frail and susceptible to
infection.
What finished him off, they
believe, was a bout of malaria on top of his general ill health. The
scientists found traces of the malaria parasite in the pharaoh's blood - the
oldest mummified genetic proof for malaria in ancient populations that we
have.
Dr Hawass and his team say:
"A sudden leg fracture possibly introduced by a fall might have resulted
in a life-threatening condition when a malaria infection occurred.
"Seeds, fruits and leaves
found in the tomb, and possibly used as medical treatment, support this
diagnosis."
Dr Bob Connolly, a senior
lecturer in physical anthropology at Liverpool University, has examined
Tutankhamun himself.
He said the researchers had been
incredibly lucky to be able to extract the DNA for study.
"His is not a beautifully
preserved mummy. It's a charred wreck. Hawass and his team have been
incredibly clever and lucky to do this."
He said it was possible that the
king died from malaria, but he personally doubted it.
"Just because he had the
parasite in his blood does not necessarily mean he suffered from malaria or
died from it. It may not have caused him any trouble."
"I still think he died from
a fall from his chariot. His chest cavity was also caved in and he had broken
ribs."
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