Oldest case of leprosy traced to India

Researchers have uncovered what they say is the oldest case of leprosy yet found.

Analysis of a 4000-year-old skeleton from India shows traces of the disease, researchers report in PLoS One, a publication of the Public Library of Science.

The skeleton was buried about 2000 BC at the site of Balathal, a large settlement in what is now Rajasthan, according to Gwen Robbins, an anthropologist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Balathal thrived from about 3700 to 1800 BC.