He ruled Macedonia, crushed the Persian Empire and invaded India. But a simple infection with West Nile virus may finally have toppled Alexander the Great.The legendary military leader died suddenly in 323 BC in the Mesopotamian city of Babylon, near current-day Baghdad. The cause of his death, aged only 32, has puzzled historians for years. Poisoning, flu and typhoid fever have all been suggested, based on records of his two-week illness. Now epidemiologist John Marr of the Virginia Department of Health in Richmond and infectious-disease expert Charles Calisher of Colorado State University in Fort Collins have a new suggestion: West Nile fever.

Common in Africa, West Asia and the Middle East, West Nile virus has found renewed global fame since its accidental introduction to the United States in 1999. The virus is harboured by birds and other animals and is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes.

Marr and Calisher cite a passage by the Greek biographer Plutarch. "When [Alexander] arrived before the walls of [Babylon]," Plutarch recorded, "he saw a large number of ravens flying about and pecking one another, and some of them fell dead in front of him."

The ravens might have been dying of West Nile virus infection, the researchers suggest. Ravens belong to a family of birds that are particularly susceptible to the pathogen - members of the same family are responsible for the virus' spread across the United States.


View: Full Article | Source: Nature