A Probable Case of Leprosy from the Paleometallic Period of Semawang, Bali, Indonesia

Delta Bayu Murti1*, Rusyad Adi Suriyanto2, Neni Trilusiana Rahmawati2, Janatin Hastuti2, and Toetik Koesbardiati1

Leprosy is a disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae infection and is thought to have evolved since prehistoric times. This disease spreads to all regions of the world, especially areas with tropical climates such as Asia. Indonesia is one of the areas where leprosy infections are now found on a high scale. Leprosy infection in Indonesia was also found in prehistoric human remains from several archaeological sites, namely Lewoleba in East Nusa Tenggara and Plawangan in Central Java. This study aims to document and diagnose facial pathology in an individual skull from the Semawang site, Bali, Indonesia. The material of this study is the skull of individual R.VIII. We are using macroscopic examination based on a description of leprosy pathology on skull from Ortner and Aufderheide & Rodriguez-Martin. The result shows the rhinomaxillary syndrome on the R.VIII face, i.e the destruction of the anterior nasal spine, the nasal aperture becomes blunt and widened, and alveolar process resorption of the maxilla with loss of the anterior teeth, indicating a diagnosis of leprosy. This finding adds to the data on leprosy cases in prehistoric Indonesia, and opens up the possibility of a link between sites from the Palaeometallic period that have leprosy cases.