Were the English sweating sickness and the Picardy sweat caused by hantaviruses?

Historic and Prehistoric Epidemics: An Overview of Sources Available for the Study of Ancient Pathogens

Since life on earth developed, parasitic microbes have thrived. Increases in host numbers, or the conquest of a new species, provide an opportunity for such a pathogen to enjoy, before host defense systems kick in, a similar upsurge in reproduction. Outbreaks, caused by "endemic" pathogens, and epidemics, caused by "novel" pathogens, have thus been creating chaos and destruction since prehistorical times. To study such (pre)historic epidemics, recent advances in the ancient DNA field, applied to both archeological and historical remains, have helped tremendously to elucidate the evolutionary trajectory of pathogens. These studies have offered new and unexpected insights into the evolution of, for instance, smallpox virus, hepatitis B virus, and the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis. Furthermore, burial patterns and historical publications can help in tracking down ancient pathogens. Another source of information is our genome, where selective sweeps in immune-related genes relate to past pathogen attacks, while multiple viruses have left their genomes behind for us to study. This review will discuss the sources available to investigate (pre)historic diseases, as molecular knowledge of historic and prehistoric pathogens may help us understand the past and the present, and prepare us for future epidemics.

Nanomaterials for virus sensing and tracking

The effect of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic on global healthcare systems has underlined the importance of timely and cost-effective point-of-care diagnosis of viruses. The need for ultrasensitive easy-to-use platforms has culminated in an increased interest for rapid response equipment-free alternatives to conventional diagnostic methods such as polymerase chain reaction, western-blot assay, etc. Furthermore, the poor stability and the bleaching behavior of several contemporary fluorescent reporters is a major obstacle in understanding the mechanism of viral infection thus retarding drug screening and development. Owing to their extraordinary surface-to-volume ratio as well as their quantum confinement and charge transfer properties, nanomaterials are desirable additives to sensing and imaging systems to amplify their signal response as well as temporal resolution. Their large surface area promotes biomolecular integration as well as efficacious signal transduction. Due to their hole mobility, photostability, resistance to photobleaching, and intense brightness, nanomaterials have a considerable edge over organic dyes for single virus tracking. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of combining carbon-allotrope, inorganic and organic-based nanomaterials with virus sensing and tracking methods, starting with the impact of human pathogenic viruses on the society. We address how different nanomaterials can be used in various virus sensing platforms (e.g. lab-on-a-chip, paper, and smartphone-based point-of-care systems) as well as in virus tracking applications. We discuss the enormous potential for the use of nanomaterials as simple, versatile, and affordable tools for detecting and tracing viruses infectious to humans, animals, plants as well as bacteria. We present latest examples in this direction by emphasizing major advantages and limitations.

Emergence of epidemic diseases: zoonoses and other origins

Infectious diseases emerge via many routes and may need to overcome stepwise bottlenecks to burgeon into epidemics and pandemics. About 60% of human infections have animal origins, whereas 40% either co-evolved with humans or emerged from non-zoonotic environmental sources. Although the dynamic interaction between wildlife, domestic animals, and humans is important for the surveillance of zoonotic potential, exotic origins tend to be overemphasized since many zoonoses come from anthropophilic wild species (for example, rats and bats). We examine the equivocal evidence of whether the appearance of novel infections is accelerating and relate technological developments to the risk of novel disease outbreaks. Then we briefly compare selected epidemics, ancient and modern, from the Plague of Athens to COVID-19.

Sudor Anglicus: an epidemic targeting the autonomic nervous system

Renaissance England witnessed a series of brief epidemics of a rapid and often fatal illness, the predominant feature of which was a disturbance of the autonomic nervous system. Profuse sweating was both an emblematic and ominous sign of this Sudor Anglicus. Its story is medically fascinating as well as historically noteworthy. Possible sites of pathological involvement include the hypothalamus, serotonergic neurons in the brainstem or spinal cord, autonomic ganglia, peripheral sympathetic nerves, neuroeffector junctions, or eccrine glands. Of candidate etiologic agents, a virus is most likely, given the seasonal variation, geographic clustering, and pattern of spread of the epidemics. Hantaviruses, enteroviruses, influenza, and others provide clinical comparisons, but a definitive match with known viruses has remained elusive.

Microbial Genomics of Ancient Plagues and Outbreaks

The recent use of next-generation sequencing methods to investigate historical disease outbreaks has provided us with an unprecedented ability to address important and long-standing questions in epidemiology, pathogen evolution, and human history. In this review, we present major findings that illustrate how microbial genomics has provided new insights into the nature and etiology of infectious diseases of historical importance, such as plague, tuberculosis, and leprosy. Sequenced isolates collected from archaeological remains also provide evidence for the timing of historical evolutionary events as well as geographic spread of these pathogens. Elucidating the genomic basis of virulence in historical diseases can provide relevant information on how we can effectively understand the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases today and in the future.