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Evidence of Hepatitis B has been found in human DNA dating back to the Bronze Age, around 4,500 years ago. We now have proof that it infected humans broadly across Eurasia for millennia, pushing back the earliest evidence we have by thousands of years.
Previously, the earliest evidence of Hepatitis B was just 450 years old – and its discovery in a mummified medieval Italian child was only announced earlier this year.
A team led by geneticist Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge analysed the genomes of 304 individuals who lived between 7,000 and 200 years ago.
Read more…https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-human-genome-study-hepatitis-4-500-years-old-bronze-age
Read Also: Genghis Khan’s Mongol horde probably had rampant Hepatitis B