King Tut's Tough Life
New analysis of the mummy of King Tut, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that the boy king had severe bone disease and malaria. Christopher Intagliata reports

The Journal of the American Medical Association doesn’t usually report autopsy results. But they make an exception this week: for King Tut. The study of the boy king involved DNA analysis and CAT scans.

Researchers [led by Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt] used genetic fingerprints from Tut and 10 presumed relatives to map out his most accurate five-generation family tree to date. It reveals a family history of clubfoot and scoliosis. And CAT scans of Tut turned up foot deformities, like a missing toe bone, and bone necrosis, which means some of his foot bones were dying due to poor blood circulation. Previous scans had identified a femur fracture.

The tests also found DNA from Plasmodium falciparum, meaning that the teenager and his great-grandparents had malaria infections. It's the oldest genetic proof for malaria in well-dated mummies. DNA also shows that Tut was probably spared bubonic plague, tuberculosis, leprosy or leishmaniasis.

So here's the scenario the researchers propose: an already frail pharaoh, hobbling around on his cane, breaks his leg, maybe in a fall. Throw in that malaria infection, and around 1324 B.C., just nine years after taking the throne, King Tut was history.

—Christopher Intagliata