One third of Napleon’s army had trench fever?

But how can you know that?

This is just too cool. Tara Smith over at Aetiology has a post about a paper that appeared in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The authors analyzed the DNA in the pulp cavity of teeth from soldiers remains unearthed in a mass grave.

Their conclusion:

Our results show that louse-borne infectious diseases affected nearly one-third of Napoleon’s soldiers buried in Vilnius and indicate that these diseases might have been a major factor in the French retreat from Russia.

Read her post to learn more. This is the kind of science that’s truely amazing.