Tuberculosis before and after the Black Death (1346 – 1353 CE) in the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England

Jenna M Dittmar; Piers D Mitchell; Sarah A Inskip; Craig Cessford; John E Robb

doi:10.1016/j.tube.2023.102401

Tuberculosis before and after the Black Death (1346 – 1353 CE) in the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England

Jenna M Dittmar^* (Corresponding Author), Piers D Mitchell, Sarah A Inskip, Craig Cessford, John E Robb

^*Corresponding author for this work

Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This research explores how the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in a medieval hospital was affected by the demographic and social changes that following the Black Death (1346-1353CE), the initial years of the Second Plague Pandemic. To do this, skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England, that could be dated to living before (n=77) or after (n=55) the Black Death were assessed for evidence of TB (indicated by destructive lesions of the spine, ribs, large joints, and other recognised criteria).
Overall, the odds of females having skeletal lesions caused by TB were over four times higher than males. No significant difference was detected in the prevalence rates in those who lived before and after the Black Death (7.8%, 6/77 before and 11.0%, 6/55 after). However, the odds of women having skeletal evidence of TB were over five times greater after the Black Death than they were before. These findings indicate that women may have been 1) more susceptible
to TB, 2) surviving longer post-infection than men, and/or 3) that women with TB were more likely to be admitted to the Hospital especially following the Black Death. It is also possible that impairment due to TB infection may have been a contributing factor for entry into the Hospital for women but not men.

Original language	English
Article number	102401
Number of pages	7
Journal	Tuberculosis
Volume	143
Issue number	Supplement
Early online date	25 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tube.2023.102401
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

This article was published with Open Access under the Elsevier/Jisc Open Access agreement

The authors would like to thank all of the members of the ‘After the Plague’ project, and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit for their help and support. We would also like to thank György Pálfi for organising the ICEPT-3 conference, at which the initial findings of this research were presented and for inviting us to contribute to this special issue. This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Award no 2000368/Z/15/Z) and St John's College, Cambridge.

Keywords

Second Plague Pandemic
Bioarchaeology
medieval
paleopathology
plague
TB

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Dittmar_etal_T_Tuberculosis_Before_and_after_VOR
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 1.93 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Tuberculosis before and after the Black Death (1346 – 1353 CE) in the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England",

abstract = "This research explores how the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in a medieval hospital was affected by the demographic and social changes that following the Black Death (1346-1353CE), the initial years of the Second Plague Pandemic. To do this, skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England, that could be dated to living before (n=77) or after (n=55) the Black Death were assessed for evidence of TB (indicated by destructive lesions of the spine, ribs, large joints, and other recognised criteria).Overall, the odds of females having skeletal lesions caused by TB were over four times higher than males. No significant difference was detected in the prevalence rates in those who lived before and after the Black Death (7.8%, 6/77 before and 11.0%, 6/55 after). However, the odds of women having skeletal evidence of TB were over five times greater after the Black Death than they were before. These findings indicate that women may have been 1) more susceptibleto TB, 2) surviving longer post-infection than men, and/or 3) that women with TB were more likely to be admitted to the Hospital especially following the Black Death. It is also possible that impairment due to TB infection may have been a contributing factor for entry into the Hospital for women but not men.",

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author = "Dittmar, {Jenna M} and Mitchell, {Piers D} and Inskip, {Sarah A} and Craig Cessford and Robb, {John E}",

note = "This article was published with Open Access under the Elsevier/Jisc Open Access agreement The authors would like to thank all of the members of the {\textquoteleft}After the Plague{\textquoteright} project, and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit for their help and support. We would also like to thank Gy{\"o}rgy P{\'a}lfi for organising the ICEPT-3 conference, at which the initial findings of this research were presented and for inviting us to contribute to this special issue. This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Award no 2000368/Z/15/Z) and St John's College, Cambridge.",

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AU - Robb, John E

N1 - This article was published with Open Access under the Elsevier/Jisc Open Access agreement The authors would like to thank all of the members of the ‘After the Plague’ project, and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit for their help and support. We would also like to thank György Pálfi for organising the ICEPT-3 conference, at which the initial findings of this research were presented and for inviting us to contribute to this special issue. This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Award no 2000368/Z/15/Z) and St John's College, Cambridge.

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N2 - This research explores how the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in a medieval hospital was affected by the demographic and social changes that following the Black Death (1346-1353CE), the initial years of the Second Plague Pandemic. To do this, skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England, that could be dated to living before (n=77) or after (n=55) the Black Death were assessed for evidence of TB (indicated by destructive lesions of the spine, ribs, large joints, and other recognised criteria).Overall, the odds of females having skeletal lesions caused by TB were over four times higher than males. No significant difference was detected in the prevalence rates in those who lived before and after the Black Death (7.8%, 6/77 before and 11.0%, 6/55 after). However, the odds of women having skeletal evidence of TB were over five times greater after the Black Death than they were before. These findings indicate that women may have been 1) more susceptibleto TB, 2) surviving longer post-infection than men, and/or 3) that women with TB were more likely to be admitted to the Hospital especially following the Black Death. It is also possible that impairment due to TB infection may have been a contributing factor for entry into the Hospital for women but not men.

AB - This research explores how the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in a medieval hospital was affected by the demographic and social changes that following the Black Death (1346-1353CE), the initial years of the Second Plague Pandemic. To do this, skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England, that could be dated to living before (n=77) or after (n=55) the Black Death were assessed for evidence of TB (indicated by destructive lesions of the spine, ribs, large joints, and other recognised criteria).Overall, the odds of females having skeletal lesions caused by TB were over four times higher than males. No significant difference was detected in the prevalence rates in those who lived before and after the Black Death (7.8%, 6/77 before and 11.0%, 6/55 after). However, the odds of women having skeletal evidence of TB were over five times greater after the Black Death than they were before. These findings indicate that women may have been 1) more susceptibleto TB, 2) surviving longer post-infection than men, and/or 3) that women with TB were more likely to be admitted to the Hospital especially following the Black Death. It is also possible that impairment due to TB infection may have been a contributing factor for entry into the Hospital for women but not men.

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KW - paleopathology

KW - plague

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M1 - 102401

ER -

Tuberculosis before and after the Black Death (1346 – 1353 CE) in the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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