Chapter 19, Problem 5CCS

Diagnosis in the Desert

In the 1970s, archeologists unearthed a vast cemetery in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Because the Atacama is the driest desert on Earth, bodies over 800 years old were better preserved than might be expected. Some facial and brain tissues were mummified. The skulls of four women appeared as if the bone had been eaten, though it was obvious to the archeologists that the women had lived with the condition and died from other causes. It wasn’t until 2009 that scientists were able to solve the mystery of these skulls. Genetic analysis of tissue samples revealed that a flagellated protozoan had moved from facial lesions to the women’s skulls, slowly eating them away over a 20-year period.

1. 1. What skin pathogen caused the disfigurement?
2. 2. How did the women become infected?
3. 3. If the women were infected today, what treatment would be given?