66 million-year-old dinosaur fossils contain a rare disease in modern-day children

A rare human disease has just been found inside the fossil of a platypus. The dinosaur once lived on Earth 66 million years ago and the fossil of an individual was discovered in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have discovered unusual gaps in the two tails of the platypus. They compared the vertebrae of the dinosaur to the bones of two benign tumors caused by the tissue-cell syndrome (Langerhans cell histiocytosis). This is a rare disease that can sometimes be very painful and affects primarily children, especially boys.

Burning the vertebrae of a speculum dinosaur

"Diagnosis of disease based on remnant bones and fossils is complicated because many types of diseases leave the same marks on bones. However, for histologic syndrome, it leaves a very characteristic and completely edematous trace. matches the lesions found in fossils, " said Dr. Hila May. She heads the Division of Evolutionary Medicine and Biological History at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

Scientists use high-resolution CT scanning method to study the fossil tail of the dinosaur.

"New types of technology, such as micro CT scans, have given us the ability to examine the structure of lesions and recreate the spread along the blood vessels that feed the disease , " May said. "Micro and macro analyzes confirm that the disease is a histologic syndrome. This is the first time we've discovered it in dinosaurs."

Speculum dinosaur

In humans, the disease is sometimes described as a rare cancer. But according to May, experts have mixed opinions, they are not sure if it is cancer or not, because in some cases, it naturally disappears.

"The majority of tumors caused by the tissue syndrome appear in the bones of children aged 2 to 10 years old. They can cause a lot of pain. But fortunately, in most cases, these tumors themselves." disappears without any intervention " . May said.

The scientific report on this research was published this week in Scientific Reports. According to the report, they were about 10 meters tall, weighed several tons and lived in groups of 66 to 80 million years ago.

The disease of dinosaurs

Like humans, dinosaurs also get sick. But evidence of diseases and infections found in fossils is scarce.

However, there is ample evidence to prove that tyrannosaurs, such as T-Rex, have suffered from gout and that iguanodons may have had osteoarthritis. Cancer is much harder to guess but now there is evidence that the dinosaurs have acquired them. The above information is given in the report.

May explained that studying the diseases present in many species in fossils is a complex task. For extinct animals, since we don't have a living individual to refer to, this task will become even more complex.

Dr. Hila May holds a vertebrae fossilized by a platypus

The authors say that the findings could support evolutionary medicine - a new field of research focused on understanding the development and behavior of diseases over time.

Because many of the diseases humans have come from come from animals (coronavirus, HIV and tuberculosis), May said that understanding of the ability to spread through different species and the evolution of fertility the survival of ailments can assist in the search for new and effective treatments.

"When we know that a disease does not only appear in one species or in a certain time period, it means that the biological mechanism that triggers the development of the disease is not unique to the behavior or environment of the individual. human, instead [it] is a basic physiological problem of the organism , " May said.

According to CNN