Three viruses found in 50,000-old Neanderthal bones still affect humans today

Researchers have discovered that Neanderthals from 50,000 years ago were infected with three viruses that still affect modern humans today. The study was conducted by researchers at Brazil’s Federal University of Sao Paulo. These findings represent the oldest known remnants of human viruses, surpassing the previous record by about 20,000 years. The earlier record was held by a common-cold virus found in 31,000-year-old baby teeth in Siberia.

Marcelo Briones from the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil told Newscientist.com that it might be feasible to synthesize these ancient viruses and infect modern human cells with them in a laboratory setting.

The discovery was made by analyzing DNA sequences from the skeletons of two male Neanderthals found in the Chagyrskaya cave in the Altai mountains of Russia. Researchers identified several sequences that appeared viral and compared them with modern viruses known to cause lifelong infections. By examining specific signatures in the viral DNA, they ruled out contamination from modern humans or predators, confirming the ancient origin of these viruses.

The study revealed that Neanderthals could be infected with three common modern human viruses: adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus. In modern humans, adenoviruses can cause cold- and flu-like symptoms, sore throat, and pink eye. Papillomaviruses can lead to genital warts and certain types of cancer, while herpesviruses can cause cold sores, chickenpox, and mononucleosis. The herpesvirus found in Neanderthals closely resembled the type that causes cold sores in humans today.

The researchers suggest that these findings support the theory that viruses may have contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals around 40,000 years ago. The study, published on the preprint server bioRxiv on May 21, is yet to undergo peer review.