Teresa Zeibig, Maria Spyrou, Arthur Kocher, Emily Gaul, Mark Aldenderfer, Rodrigo Barquera, Jessica Beckett, Arman Beisenov, Andrey Belinski, Philip Betancourt, Ruth Boersma, Pablo Carrion, Ainash Childebayeva, Christine Cooper, Francesco Cucca, Rosaria Di Salvo, Marko Dizdar, Leyla Djansugurova, Michal Ernée, Susan Ferrence, Lars Fehren-Schmitz, Ayshin Ghalichi, Karen Giffin, Steven Gilbert, Jorge Gómez-Valdés, Joscha Gretzinger, Leif Hansen, Svend Hansen, Diana Hernandez-Zaragoza, Rimantas Jankauskas, Choongwon Jeong, Marcel Keller, Valery Khartanovich, Daewook Kim, Rebecca Kinaston, Alexey Kovalev, Justina Kozakaitė, Dirk Krausse, Siniša Krznar, Mario Küßner, Louise Langford, Luca Lai, Sandra Lösch, Kerttu Majander, Marcello Mannino, Lourdes Márquez-Morfín, Michael McCormick, Photini McGeorge, Megan Michel, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Hyoungmin Moon, Angela Mötsch, Lyazzat Musralina, Erdene Myagmar, Elia Nakoro, Rita Németh, Gunnar Neumann, Mario Novak, Lauro Olmo Enciso, Päivi Onkamo, Luka Papac, Sanni Peltola, Cosimo Posth, Adam Powell, Chantal Radimilahy, Dragana Rajković, Jean-Aimé Rakotoarisoa, Bako Rasoarifetra, Sabine Reinhold, Roberto Risch, Zainolla Samashev, Duncan Sayer, Vittoria Schimmenti, Felicitas Schmitt, Elena Sintes, Philip Slavin, Denis Sorokin, Thomas Terberger, Rezeda Tukhbatova, Åshild Vågene, Katrien Van de Vijver, Alfonso Vigil-Escalera Guirado, Vanessa Villalba-Mouco, Dmitriy Voyakin, Eun Woo, Teresa Ximenez, Philipp Stockhammer, Christina Warinner, Kirsten Bos, Stephan Schiffels, Alissa Mittnik, Wolfgang Haak, Alexander Herbig, and Johannes Krause (2026)
Tracing the evolution and diversity of human parvovirus B19 across human history
Current Biology, 36(19):4914--4929.e24.
Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is an ubiquitously spread, exclusively human pathogen, mainly posing risks to children, as well as pregnant and immunocompromised individuals. Despite evidence of B19V infection of human populations as far back as 7,000 years, the evolutionary history of B19V remains poorly understood. In this study, we present B19V genomic data from the remains of 53 globally distributed individuals spanning more than 8,000 years, including 7 children. Our findings suggest that the most recent common ancestor of all present B19V lineages existed around 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. Additionally, we identified an extinct Eurasian clade that participated in the recombination event that led to the emergence of B19V genotype 2 (GT-2). We date this event to ?3,200?1,800 BP, potentially in the greater Mediterranean area. Our study shows aspects of how ancient parvovirus variants arose, disseminated, and impacted human health through time.
- DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.08.032
- ISSN: 0960-9822
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