Researchers isolate ancient parvovirus from human remains
July 13 (UPI) -- Scientists have isolated an ancient sample of the parvovirus from human remains, which could provide researchers with detailed knowledge of extinct genetic diversity and viral phylodynamics. An international collaborative of researchers recently reported their analysis of ancient human parvovirus samples taken from the dental and skeletal remains of 1,578 people who lived between 500 and 6,900 years ago. They published the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Airborne and bloodborne human parvovirus B19 is responsible for multiple illnesses, including the childhood rash known as fifth disease, chronic anemia in AIDS patients, arthritis in the elderly, aplastic crisis in people with bone marrow-related illness and hydrops fetalis in pregnant wo...