Short report: Cysticercosis in an Egyptian mummy of the late Ptolemaic period

Abstract We describe here an ancient case of cysticercosis that was discovered in an Egyptian mummy of a young woman of about 20 years of age who lived in the late Ptolemaic period (second to first centuries b.c.). On removal of the stomach and its rehydration, a cystic lesion in the stomach wall was observed by naked eye. Microscopical examination of sections of this lesion revealed a cystic structure, with a wall, with numerous projecting eversions, a characteristic feature of the larval stage (cysticercus) of the human tapeworm Taenia solium (or "pig tapeworm"). Immunohistochemical testing with serum from a T. solium-infected human confirmed the identity of the cyst. This finding is the oldest on record of the antiquity of this zoonotic parasite. This observation also confirms that, in Hellenistic Egypt, the farming of swine, along with man an intermediate host of this parasite, was present, and supports other archeological evidenc

AN ANENCEPHALIC FOETUS PETRIFIED BY GIROLAMO SEGATO (1792-1836): MORPHO-RADIOLOGICAL STUDY AND HYPHOTESES ABOUT THE METHOD

SUMMARY In Modern Age’s time the human body became one of the most interesting and generally accepted spectacles underlying changes in mentality. At the same time the problem of preservation of human bodies became a fundamental instrument used by many scholars to improve knowledge in human anatomy. People overcame anthropological taboos and religious resistance providing dissection and exhibition of the body in all its manifestations, normal or pathologic. Segato’s experience became part of this atmosphere in which scientific research was combined with a strong desire for the rare, morbid and marvellous: the descriptive human congenital malformations attracted special attention. We report the case of an anencephalic foetus petrified by Gerolamo Segato in the course of his experiments on body conservation. The specimen has been studied applying non-invasive methods. Digital radiography and computed tomography (CT) alogside more advanced techniques such as three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction and virtual endoscopy (VE) have been used to investigate anatomic morphology and to perform hypotheses about Segato’s method of petrification which is still unknown