Skull discovered on uninhabited Caribbean island shows signs of leprosy: Study

Archaeologists have discovered a skull on an uninhabited Caribbean island. The skull shows signs of leprosy, which can be spotted on a skeleton in the western hemisphere, reported Phys.Org. The skull, which dates to the late 18th or early 19th century, was discovered on Petite Mustique by the team led by University of Oregon archaeologist Scott Fitzpatrick. 

The findings led by Scott Fitzpatrick have been published in the International Journal of Paleopathology. According to historical records, the island might have been used for a leprosarium, in the early 1800s, when people with leprosy used to isolate to mitigate the spread of the disease. Archaeologists dated the skull using radiocarbon, by studying a fragment of the skull, reported Phys.Org. 

Scott Fitzpatrick, the associate director for research at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History has revealed that there are a number of cases in the Caribbean and Pacific that suggested that smaller islands were used to separate the people who had leprosy, like Molokai in Hawaii, as per the report. Leprosy might have been found in the Caribbean around the mid-17th century, however, reports of leprosy in the Caribbean have been incomplete. According to the study published in the International Journal of Paleopathology, the skull was unearthed in 2003. 

At the time of discovery, the skull was only partially visible and was recovered after clearing the loose sand. The person who discovered the skull was an employee of the Mustique Company, the corporation that manages and provides services for the island. In 2014, one author was allowed to export and examine the remains by the company, according to the study. The skull was then brought to the Island and Coastal Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Oregon where it was examined by our research team. Based on the findings, the archaeologists explained that the person probably had leprosy due to "pathological alterations to the nasal region". 

Image: Unsplash/Representative