S684 Document heading doi: 10.1016/S2222-1808(14)60707-6 襃 2014 by the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease. All rights reserved. Brucellosis: presence of zoonosis infection 3 500 years ago in North of Iran Hossein Samadi Kafil 1* , Seyed baha Hosseini 2 , Majid Sohrabi 3 , Mohammad Asgharzadeh 4 1 Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran 2 Department of Archeology, School of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran. Iran 3 Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran 4 Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Asian Pac J Trop Dis 2014; 4(Suppl 2): S684-S686 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apjtd Contents lists available at ScienceDirect *Corresponding author: Hossein samadi Kafil PhD, Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Tel: +989127184735 E-mail: kafilhs@tbzmed.ac.ir Foundation Project: Supported by Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, (Grant NO. 1392105). Tabriz, Iran. 1. Introduction Brucellosis, a major bacterial zoonosis, is a globally important infection [1] . This small, facultative intracellular, aerobic G ram- negative coccobacilli pathogen can influence a wide range of mammals including man, cattle, sheep, goat, swine, rodents and marine mammals [1,2] . This bacterium is most commonly transmitted to human through the consumption of unpasteurized milk products, direct contacting with infected animal or inhalation of aerosolized droplet [3] . David Bruce identified brucellae for the first time in 1887, and it was accordingly named after him [4] . However, it was found by Shaw and Zammit that brucellosis could be transmitted from animal to human, a point which was doubted by Bruce et al. [5] . Brucellosis can annually cause more than 500 000 human infections worldwide and it remains as one of the major public health problems in Mediterranean region, Western Asia, parts of Africa and Latin America [6] . The Middle East has traditionally been considered as an endemic area of brucellosis and Iran, in the center of Middle East, is one of the countries with highest incidence for human brucellosis worldwide. And this disease remains a huge burden for the country [7] . Archeological excavation in Gohar Tepe (a region in the north of Iran) (Figure 1) started in 2005, and was associated with the discovery of an ancient civilization. Based on radiocarbon dating studies, the existence of Gohar Tepe dates back to the Middle Bonze Age and lasted to the Iron Age [8] . One of the interesting findings in excavations was graves with human skeletons buried with animals (goat or sheep) together. In some cases the animals were also covered with clay. Some paleopathological signs of infection were found by Sołtysiak and Mahforouzi [8] in two ancient graves that selected for this study. This study aimed to investigate the possible presence of brucellosis in Gohar Tepe (Behshahr-North of Iran) by molecular approach. Samples collected from human and animal for examining A R T I C L E I N F O ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the presence of brucellosis in graved human and animal buried in the same graves around 3 500 years ago. Methods: Two ancient graves in AH2XX1 trench in Gohar Tepe (Behshahr, North of Iran) in which human and animal were buried in single grave were selected for this study. After DNA extraction from human and animal tooth samples, TaqMan real time polymerase chain reaction method was utilized to check and measure the presence of brucellae bacteria. Results: Brucellosis was found in human with 3.9伊10 5 copy/0.05 gr and in animal with 6.5伊10 3 copy/0.05 gr in grave one. In grave two, 2.6伊10 5 copy/0.05 gr in human and 7.7伊10 3 copy/0.05 gr in animal were found. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the presence of brucellosis infections in this region in 3 500 years ago. Also, it showed that the transmission of brucellosis in Gohar Tepe might be due to the frequent use of milk and meat as the main energy source by the residents. Although previous research claimed that brucellosis was limited to the European continent in the Middle Bronze Age, the current research showed the presence of brucellosis in Middle East region. An advantage of this study over previous research is the use of real time polymerase chain reaction which is more rigorous for studying the presence of brucellae in ancient objects compared to Paleopathological method. Article history: Received 2 Jan 2014 Received in revised form 15 Feb 2014 Accepted 27 May 2014 Available online 27 Jul 2014 Keywords: Brucellae Ancient Zoonosis Animal Human Middle East Iran