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. 2014 Oct 15;9(10):e109543.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109543. eCollection 2014.

Intestinal parasites in First World War German soldiers from "Kilianstollen", Carspach, France

Matthieu Le Bailly  1 , Michaël Landolt  2 , Leslie Mauchamp  1 , Benjamin Dufour  1
Affiliations

Intestinal parasites in First World War German soldiers from "Kilianstollen", Carspach, France

Matthieu Le Bailly et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Paleoparasitological investigations revealed the presence of intestinal helminths in samples taken from the abdominal cavities of two German soldiers, recovered in the First World War site named "Kilianstollen" in Carspach, France. Eggs from roundworm, whipworm, tapeworm and capillariids were identified. The morphological and morphometrical comparison, followed by statistical analyses, showed that the Carspach capillariid eggs are similar to rodent parasites. Poor sanitary conditions in the trenches, the lack of knowledge of parasites, and the widespread presence of commensal animals, can explain the occurrence of such parasites in human intestines. This study is the second dealing with 20th century human samples. It confirms the presence of intestinal worms in First World War German soldiers. In this case study, the application of statistics to precise measurements facilitated the diagnosis of ancient helminth eggs and completed the microscopic approach.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The soldiers recovered during the excavations of “Kilianstollen” in Carspach.
A- Soldier #1012. B- Soldiers #1018 (left) and #1019 (right) (Photo: M. Landolt).
Figure 2
Figure 2. A. Egg of Ascaris lumbricoides (66.57×53.04 µm) recovered in individual # 1018 in Carspach “Kilianstollen”.
B. Egg of Trichuris trichiura (53.19×27.45 µm) recovered in individual # 1019 in Carspach “Kilianstollen”. C- Egg of Taenia sp. (34.95×32.25 µm) recovered in individual # 1018 in Carspach “Kilianstollen”. Scale bar = 20 µm (Photos: M. Le Bailly).
Figure 3
Figure 3. A. Egg of capillariid (65.03×28.38 µm) recovered in individual # 1018 in Carspach “Kilianstollen”.
B. Details on the eggshell ornamentation showing a dense and relatively thin network. Scale bar = 20 µm (Photos: M. Le Bailly).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Hierarchical clustering established for capillariid reticulated eggs by using the Gower distance and the Ward minimum variance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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