Suggesting that resistance to antibiotics is not the mere product of misuse and abuse of antibiotics, a study of a 900-year old mummified Peruvian female provided clues to the presence of antibiotic resistance genes ages before antibiotics came to be.

In a study published in the PLOS One journal, international scientists used the observation of the preserved paleo-faecal content of the colon of this 11th century pre-Columbian Andean mummy to very its bacterial groups.

Gene sequencing and metagenomics were used to assess the microbiome of the mummy.  Because the specimen underwent natural mummification processes provided by the climate of the Andes, analyses were able to distinguish a number of DNA sequences that correspond to Clostridium botulinum, Trypanosoma cruzi and human papillomaviruses (HPVs).

According to the researchers, "The presence of putative antibiotic-resistance genes suggests that resistance may not necessarily be associated with a selective pressure of antibiotics or contact with European cultures."

Detection of vancomycin, an antibiotic that is applied against resistant strains of streptococcus and staphylococcus, in the mummy was significant in that this antibiotic was discovered over 50 years ago. Vancomycin-resistant genes has been linked with the increased use of this antibiotic.

"Identification of pathogens and antibiotic-resistance genes in ancient human specimens will aid in the understanding of the evolution of pathogens as a way to treat and prevent diseases caused by bacteria, microbial eukaryotes and viruses." 

Gino Fornaciari of the University of Pisa purports the Incan female to have died between the ages of 18 and 23 from Chagas' disease which caused by triatominae or kissing bugs.  This was surmised from the mummy's abnormally enlarged heart, oesophagus and colon, and the large amount of faeces within the colon.

While the specimen was found in Cuzco, it was transported to Italy in the 19th century.  Eventually, the mummy found its way into the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology of the University of Florence.