Infantile scurvy, a comorbid condition. : A bioarchaeological study in the Santo Domingo Church, in Zacatecas

Abstract

Micronutrient deficiencies in humans cause metabolic complications such as scurvy and rickets, vitamin C, and D deficiency, respectively. There is a great lack of knowledge regarding the presence of these conditions in Mexico’s preterite societies, especially throughout the viceroyalty period; among the factors that have contributed to this situation is the lack of osteological series from that period, combined with the failure to correctly record any traces that remain imprinted in the skeletal remains. Fortunately, during the restoration of one of the most important religious sites in the city of Zacatecas, the Church of Santo Domingo, it was possible to rescue some excellent samples of human remains, mainly from infants, corresponding to the 18th and 19th centuries, presumably having belonged to a high social class.

The ancient Zacatecan society suffered incessant adverse events, such as frosts, droughts, and epidemics that negatively affected the health of the region’s inhabitants. This article presents the results of the morbid conditions related to the lack of micronutrients, focused on vitamin C and comorbidity. The study included the analysis of 89 children, complete or semi-complete, skeletonized and semi-skeletonized, of whom 93.3% were under two years of age. Isolated bones were examined for the detection of scurvy, such as the mandible (n = 256) and the skull bones: sphenoid, basilar, lateral, zygomatic and maxillary bones. Scorbutic lesions, accompanied by cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis —iron deficiency— were observed in most, along with infectious diseases, thus indicating a synergistic situation and comorbid state associating these two conditions.