Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 368, Issue 6497, Pages 1367-+Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aba9411
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Funding
- European Research Council under the European Union [725422-ReservoirDOCS]
- Research Foundation-Flanders ('Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen') [FWO: G066215N, G0D5117N, G0B9317N]
- FWO
- National Institutes of Health [U19 AI135995]
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Many infectious diseases are thought to have emerged in humans after the Neolithic revolution. Although it is broadly accepted that this also applies to measles, the exact date of emergence for this disease is controversial. We sequenced the genome of a 1912 measles virus and used selection-aware molecular clock modeling to determine the divergence date of measles virus and rinderpest virus. This divergence date represents the earliest possible date for the establishment of measles in human populations. Our analyses show that the measles virus potentially arose as early as the sixth century BCE, possibly coinciding with the rise of large cities.
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