Human tuberculosis originated about 70,000 years ago and has been traced to hunter-gathering groups in Africa, according to research by an international team of scientists. The study, published in Nature Genetics, goes against the commonly held view that TB began in animals only 10,000 years ago and spread to humans.
Dr Ruth McNerney, a lecturer in pathogen biology and diagnostics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and TB Alert Trustee, said the findings could lead to advances in understanding the movements of TB. “There are now thousands of TB genomes being sequenced in big databases so that in the next five years we’ll know more about TB than we ever have, which is exciting.”
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