Researchers who examined DNA from famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven have learned new details about his health.
The DNA – which came from Beethoven’s hair – did not provide a cause for his deafness. But the samples did find that he had a genetic risk for liver disease. The DNA also showed evidence that Beethoven was infected with the virus hepatitis B in the last months of his life. The virus damages the liver.
The findings recently appeared in a study in the publication Current Biology.
The findings suggest Beethoven’s liver issues were enough to cause the liver failure widely believed to have killed him. The composer was also believed to have been a heavy drinker of alcohol, which can affect the liver.
March 26 is the 196th anniversary of Beethoven’s death in Vienna, Austria. The composer himself wrote that he wanted doctors to study his health problems after he died.
Axel Schmidt is a geneticist at Germany’s University Hospital Bonn who helped lead the research. He told The Associated Press it is established that Beethoven’s sicknesses had “sometimes very much limited his creative work.” Schmidt added that for many doctors, “it has always been a mystery” what exactly killed him.
Since his death, scientists have long tried to piece together Beethoven's medical history. And they have offered a series of possible explanations for his many health conditions.
But new examination technology and methods now make it possible to revisit health and death information by studying ancient DNA. The DNA samples were collected from locks of hair that had been cut from Beethoven’s head.
After cleaning Beethoven's hair one piece at a time, scientists put the pieces into a substance and collected small amounts of DNA, said study author Tristan James Alexander Begg. He was a writer of the study and is a biology professor at the University of Cambridge.
Getting enough genetic material was difficult, said another writer of the study, Johannes Krause. He is a paleogeneticist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Krause said the process was difficult because DNA in hair gets cut up into very small pieces.
But finally, after using up almost 3 meters of Beethoven’s hair, the team was able to piece together a genome that they could test for signs of genetic disease, Krause said.
The question of what caused Beethoven’s hearing loss remains unanswered, said Ohio State University's Dr. Avraham Z. Cooper. He was not involved in the study. Cooper said that mystery might continue forever because genetics can only show us half of the “nature and nurture” elements that make up our health.
However, Cooper added that the mystery is part of what makes Beethoven so interesting and popular: “I think the fact that we can’t know is OK,” he said.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
