Earliest known human TB found in 9,000 year-old skeletons

Dr Spigelman added: "Examining ancient human remains for the markers of TB is very important because it helps to aid our understanding of prehistoric tuberculosis and how it evolved. This then helps us improve our understanding of modern TB and how we might develop more effective treatments."

Notes for Editors

1. For further information, or to arrange an interview with the scientists quoted, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail:
2. Images are available from UCL Media Relations using the above contact details.
3. 'Detection and Molecular Characterization of 9000-Year-Old Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a Neolithic Settlement in the Eastern Mediterranean' will be published in PLoS ONE on Wednesday 15th October, with the press embargo ending at 01.00 UK Time Wednesday 15th October (17.00 Pacific Time/20.00 Eastern on Tuesday 14th October 2008.) The paper will be available online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003426. For advance copies, please contact UCL Media Relations using the above contact details.
4. The following institutions took part in this study: UCL, Tel-Aviv University, University of Birmingham, University of Salford, Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

About UCL

Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence.

UCL is in the top ten world universities in the 2007 THES-QS World University Rankings, and the third-ranked UK university in the 2008 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell, and members of the band Coldplay.