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King Tut died of blood disorder: Study

Other News Materials 26 June 2010 23:47 (UTC +04:00)
New tests suggest that the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was killed from the genetic blood disorder known sickle cell disease, rejecting earlier scientific findings, Press TV reported.
King Tut died of blood disorder: Study

New tests suggest that the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was killed from the genetic blood disorder known sickle cell disease, rejecting earlier scientific findings, Press TV reported.

German scientists at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg announced on Wednesday that closer study of the mummy's foot bones showed sickle cell disease, in which red blood cells assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape causing various complications such as chronic pain, infection and tissue death.

A previous study, released in February, said king Tut had died of malaria and after suffering a fall, AFP reported.

"We question the reliability of the genetic data presented in this (the Egyptian) study and therefore the validity of the authors' conclusions," German researchers said in a letter published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The radiological signs are compatible with osteopathologic lesions seen in sickle cell disease (SCD), a hematological disorder that occurs at gene carrier rates of nine percent to 22 percent in inhabitants of Egyptian oases."

King Tut died at the age of 19 in about 1324 BCE and studies have yielded various findings about the exact cause of his death.

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