 During Grand Rounds Friday October 1,
Marvin J. Allison, PhD, Professor of Pathology, Virginia
Commonwealth University presented a discussion concerning the
study of Laboratory Diagnoses of Diseases Past and Present.
His lecture incorporated images from rare mummified tissues examined in
the
Paleopathology Laboratory,
a world-renowned center for the study of soft human tissue which
also provides consultation to specialists and students in many
branches of medicine. When asked about this unique research,
Dr. Allison provided the following summary:
"Dr. Enrique
Gerszten and I have worked together for the past 43 years. Our first
area of research was in the field of tuberculosis taking advantage
of an excellent sanatorium at the Medical College of Virginia
Hospital. Our work concerned the factors associated with resistance
to tuberculosis, resistance to M. tuberculosis therapy, pulmonary
disease due to the unclassified Mycobacterium, and changes in
pathology associated with the chemotherapy of tuberculosis. The
sanatorium closed during the late sixties, and money for
tuberculosis research dried up since all the agencies were convinced
(erroneously) that it was no longer a problem.
We then focused our research on pre-Columbian Andean diseases. I had
previously worked a number of years in Peru and had
contacts in the region, which allowed us to work with local
archaeologists, and to autopsy the sun dried bodies that the
archaeologists discarded as of no use to them. We studied organ and
bone disease using modern hospital technology and published over one
hundred scientific papers and as many presentations, often with
posters, at national and international congresses of pathology.
Basically we found that the diseases of man in modern Peru were also
present in pre-Columbian Peru. We also learned that "persister"
virus diseases identified as late as 1989 were present 3000 years
ago in Peru and still plague the modern Amazon Indians, killing them
off before the age of 35.
During the last five years we have been using molecular diagnostic
tools to study breast cancer. Our Department of Pathology is a
center for the study of soft tissue disease paleopathology, and
serves as a world consultation center. We also have sponsored a
Paleopathology Club for the past 27 years associated with the
International Academy of Pathology Congress, and we offer practical
35-mm slide diagnoses to our 700 world members in four newsletters
annually. This work in Paleopathology has established Virginia
Commonwealth University worldwide and has served as a source of
public relations locally and in other American Universities."
For more information about Paleopathology contact
Dr. Marvin Allison at
(804) 828-9746,
FAX: (804) 828-9749, or email
mallison@mail2.vcu.edu |
