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Variola Virus in a 300-Year-Old Siberian Mummy

This letter describes a distant lineage of the variola virus (the agent of smallpox) that was identified in a mummy found buried in the Siberian permafrost.

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Philippe Biagini, Ph.D.
Viral Emergence and Co-Evolution Unit, Marseille, France
philippe.[email protected]sante.fr

Catherine Thèves, Ph.D.
Patricia Balaresque, Ph.D.
Molecular Anthropology and Image Synthesis Laboratory, Toulouse, France

Annie Géraut, M.D.
Catherine Cannet, M.Sc.
Institute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg, France

Christine Keyser, Ph.D.
Molecular Anthropology and Image Synthesis Laboratory, Strasbourg, France

Dariya Nikolaeva, M.Sc.
North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

Patrice Gérard, M.Sc.
Sylvie Duchesne, M.Sc.
Molecular Anthropology and Image Synthesis Laboratory, Toulouse, France

Ludovic Orlando, Ph.D.
Eske Willerslev, Ph.D.
Center for GeoGenetics, Copenhagen, Denmark

Anatoly N. Alekseev, Ph.D.
North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

Philippe de Micco, M.D., Ph.D.
Viral Emergence and Co-Evolution Unit, Marseille, France

Bertrand Ludes, M.D., Ph.D.
Eric Crubézy, M.D., Ph.D.
Molecular Anthropology and Image Synthesis Laboratory, Toulouse, France

Funding and Disclosures

Supported by the French Archaeological Mission in Oriental Siberia (Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, France), North-Eastern Federal University (Yakutsk, Sakha Republic), and the Human Adaptation program of the French Polar Institute Paul Émile Victor.

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org.

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