The development of the fur trade may have helped scientists to gain insight into how tuberculosis (TB) spreads.
Researchers from Stanford University have worked with fur trade historians to analyse samples, which are believed to be linked to the spread of the disease in western Canada some 150 years after the fur trade peaked.
TB can lay dormant for many years, the scientists explain, before erupting due to changes in conditions.
These can include poor ventilation, a lack of nutrition and overcrowding.
Because of its so-called "stealthy" nature, scientists have historically found it difficult to tackle TB.
The authors of the paper, Caitlin Pepperell, an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University and Marcus Feldman, professor of biology, comment that it is too soon to know how their investigations will apply in different settings.
"TB research has had a very long latent period and now we are kind of getting into an expansion phase, which is a really good thing," states Ms Pepperell.
Last month, researchers from the University of Texas in Austin published a paper in online journal BMC Cancer claiming they had found a potential new treatment for cancer.
Tested on mice, the treatment was able to shrink and eradicate all tumours within 37 days.
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