Can old diseases come back to life?

Piers Mitchell, director of the Ancient Parasites Laboratory and senior research fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, said: This is extremely unlikely“Most parasite species die within a year or two without a living host to which to attach themselves.” “If you wait more than 10 years, everything dies,” the scientist says.

For example, smallpox viruses can only multiply in the cells of a living host. The bacteria that cause tuberculosis and leprosy also need living hosts to survive. Smallpox is spread through person-to-person contact, while tuberculosis and leprosy are usually spread through fluids from the nose and mouth, usually through sneezing or coughing.

In the case of leprosy, spreading it requires prolonged contact with a patient. This is because the two types of bacteria that cause the disease, known as Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis, multiply slowly.

Another factor that reduces the likelihood of infection from a mummy is that DNA degrades over time.

With the help of analysis, it can be determined that all the pieces of DNA of these parasites are quite short. Instead of being nice, long, healthy strands of DNA, they are only 50-100 base pairs long. Everything seems to be cut. This is because [ДНК] breaks down and falls apart. If DNA is broken, nothing can live; nothing wakes up.
– says Mitchell.

However, some parasitic intestinal worms that are spread through feces live longer than other organisms, and not all of them need a living host to survive. However, They are not a cause for concern either.

“They can be much more resilient and can last for a few months, sometimes a few years, but none of them live for thousands of years. The vast majority of parasites die when the host dies because they have no way of surviving,” adds the scientist.

But even if one of these ancient organisms were somehow still alive and well, masks, gloves and other protective equipmentThe masks researchers wear to prevent contamination of the mummies will also prevent them from contracting infections or spreading pathogens.