Malaria continues to affect millions globally, causing substantial mortality and shaping human evolutionary history. Recent studies leveraging ancient DNA have illuminated the historical spread and origins of malaria, showing its adaptation across continents and its profound impact during colonial times. Advances in understanding these patterns offer insights into combating current and future malaria challenges.
To explore malaria’s enigmatic history, an international team of researchers from 80 institutions reconstructed ancient Plasmodium genome-wide data from 36 malaria-infected individuals spanning 5,500 years of human history on five continents. These ancient malaria cases provide an unprecedented opportunity to reconstruct the worldwide spread of malaria and its historical impact at global, regional, and even individual scales.
“Amplified by the effects of warfare, enslavement, and population displacement, infectious diseases, including malaria, devastated Indigenous peoples of the Americas during the colonial period, with mortality rates as high as 90 percent in some places,” says coauthor Evelyn Guevara, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki and the MPI-EVA.
These virulent cases were found in non-local male individuals of diverse Mediterranean origins, who were likely soldiers recruited from northern Italy, Spain, and other Mediterranean regions to fight in the Hapsburg Army of Flanders during the 80 Years’ War. Human genetic analysis revealed that the infected individual was a local male with genetic adaptations for life at high altitudes. However, archaeological evidence at Chokhopani and other nearby sites suggests that these Himalayan populations were actively engaged in long-distance trade.
The team believes that the man likely traveled to a lower-altitude malaria-endemic region, possibly for trade or other purposes, before returning or being brought back to Chokhopani, where he was later buried. The intimate details revealed by ancient DNA give clues to the myriad ways that infectious diseases like malaria spread in the past, giving rise to our current disease landscape.Today, the human experience of malaria is at a crossroads.
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