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 exami-nation of sections of this lesion revealed a cystic structure, with a wall, with numerous projecting eversions, a charac-teristic feature of the larval stage (cysticercus) of the human tapeworm Taenia solium (or “pig tapeworm”). Immuno-histochemical 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 evidence. Cysticercosis in humans is caused by the pig tapeworm Tae-nia solium. We describe here a case of cysticercosis in an Egyptian mummy dating back to the late Ptolemaic period (second to first centuries B.C.). The Egyptian mummy, a young woman of about 20 years of age, is at present exhibited in the City Hall of Narni (central Italy). An autopsy wa