中国古代人类麻风病和梅毒病的骨骼例证

THE SKELETAL EVIDENCE OF HUMAN LEPROSY AND SYPHILS IN ANCIENT CHINA

文中记述了从中国不同时代考古遗址出土的人类麻风病和梅毒病骨骼标本的若干宏观病理特征．通过与国外资料对比，认为麻风病和梅毒病已经在秦汉时期的中国居民中传播．但是，目前至少还没有找到可靠病骨例证来证实麻风病和梅毒病均起源于中国．

The skeletal materials of the leprosy and the syphilis in this study have been collected fromthe burial sites of Han Dynasty (200 B.C.-200 A.D.) in Shanxi province and Song Dynasty(960-1279 A.D .) in Fujiang province. The symptoms of these cases arc as follows.Case l is a skull of adult female (30-35 of age) from ban Dynasty in Pinglu county. Theleprosy lesion is located mainly on the hard palate and the nasal region. There is a latge penctrahng damage in center portion of the hard palate. It shows the destruction of the hard palate andPerforation of ossa palatine. In addition, the anterior nasal spine is atrophied. The upper incisospossible antemortem lost.Case 2 is a female skull from the burial site of Song Dynasty in Dong Shan county, Fujangprovince. The syphilis lesion is located on the glabella region and the right half of the frontalbone. The external surface of the frontal and varietal bones shows many very extensive irregulartraces of the gummatous destruction and produces the typical 'worm eaten' appearance.Case 3 is a complete left femur of female adult from the burial site of Han Dynasty inShouzhou city, Shanxi province. The outer surface of the diaphysis is generally smooth with isolated region of slight porosity. The gross lesion consists of thickening isolated plaques. The anterior surf3ce of the diaphysis shows raised tumor--like enlargements on the affected bony regions, but there are no the cloacaCase 4 is a right distal shaft of tibia, probably from the same individual of case 2. The outersurface of the hbia shaft is rough and exhibits extansive porous gummatous periotitis, and slightraised bony spiculis over superficial blood vessels in tile lateral side of the distal end.These skeletal specimens of pathological changes as mentioned above are the first evidenceof human leprosy and syphilis in ancient China. These findings indicate that the leprosy andsyphilis have exhibited in China for 2000 years. But, the author believes that the history of bothleprosy and syphilis in Chinese may be traced back to Neolithic period.