The Origin of Measles: The differentiation of the measles virus and the rinderpest virus dates back to the 6th century BC.

According to a new study of ten measles genomes, measles virus was separated from a closely related virus that infects cattle in the 6th century BC, about 1400 years earlier than current estimates.these results depict a new picture of the evolutionary history of measles virus, showing that the emergence of the pathogen is much earlier than previously suspected, and coincides with the rise of large urban centers throughout Eurasia, South Asia and East Asia.as one of the oldest enemies of the microbial community, measles virus has always been the main target of health authorities and scientists seeking to define the evolutionary pathways of common human pathogens.researchers suspect that the measles virus emerged when the now eliminated rinderpest virus spread from cattle to humans.formalin fixed lung specimen. In 1912, Berlin specimen came from a two-year-old girl diagnosed with Measles Associated bronchopneumonia. At present, it is generally accepted that measles appeared around the end of the 9th century, but the age is still uncertain.to better determine the timing of the onset of measles, Ariane D ü X and colleagues reconstructed the measles virus genome using lung samples taken from a measles case in 1912.they compared the sequencing data with a measles genome from 1960, 127 modern measles genomes, and the genome of rinderpest virus and another bovine virus called PPRV.using a series of evolutionary and molecular clock models, the researchers traced the occurrence of measles in humans from 1174 BC to 165 BC, with an average estimated time of 528 BC.the authors speculate that their findings support the assumption that in the later part of the first millennium BC, just after the scale of human settlements began to surge, a bovine virus that had been circulating in cattle for thousands of years began to attack humans.Simon Ho and Sebasti á n Duch ê ne discuss the results of this study in more detail in the relevant "viewpoint" articles.welcome official account buddy Science to click below to read the original text and visit the original English point to see and share knowledge with the little partners.