The origins and genomic diversity of American Civil War Era smallpox vaccine strains.
Published version
Peer-reviewed
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Duggan, Ana T https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2582-2954
Klunk, Jennifer
Porter, Ashleigh F
Dhody, Anna N
Hicks, Robert
Abstract
Vaccination has transformed public health, most notably including the eradication of smallpox. Despite its profound historical importance, little is known of the origins and diversity of the viruses used in smallpox vaccination. Prior to the twentieth century, the method, source and origin of smallpox vaccinations remained unstandardised and opaque. We reconstruct and analyse viral vaccine genomes associated with smallpox vaccination from historical artefacts. Significantly, we recover viral molecules through non-destructive sampling of historical materials lacking signs of biological residues. We use the authenticated ancient genomes to reveal the evolutionary relationships of smallpox vaccination viruses within the poxviruses as a whole.
Description
Keywords
Ancient DNA, Smallpox, Vaccination, Vaccinia virus, American Civil War, Genetic Variation, Genome, Viral, History, 19th Century, Humans, Metagenome, Smallpox Vaccine, Vaccination, Vaccinia virus
Journal Title
Genome Biol
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
1474-7596
1474-760X
1474-760X
Volume Title
21
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publisher DOI
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (090315/Z/09/Z)
Wellcome Trust (090315/B/09/A)
Wellcome Trust (090315/B/09/A)