304 • Wolfgang M. Pahl and W. Undeutsch 



seems to us that the symposium "Hu- 

 man Paleopathology: Current Syn- 

 theses and Future Options'" of this con- 

 gress has taken the first steps in this 

 direction and that this represents a re- 

 freshing contrast to similar congresses 

 in the past. 



The future tasks of paleopathology 

 have become too varied and compli- 

 cated to be left to the exclusive judg- 

 ment of individuals. They require a 

 cooperative plan which is considerably 

 free of personal egos and which goes 

 beyond that positive development gen- 

 erally referred to as "interdisciplinary" 

 research. "Interdisciplinary" not only 

 means consulting a certain specialist 

 from an area outside one's own. but 

 also calling in a specialist from one's 

 own field of paleopathology. It not only 

 means consulting the nearest specialist 

 to solve a particular problem but also 

 involves the necessary orientation to- 

 ward the international arena, regardless 

 of rivalries, for the sake of meaningful 

 research. Only then will such combina- 

 tions promise the optimal utilization of 

 facts and methods on one hand, and the 

 largest possible accumulation of knowl- 

 edge, for the question at hand as well as 

 for the entire field of study, on the oth- 

 er. What is needed is more concerted 

 action and less insulation of interests in 

 the hopes of acquiring personal fame. 



The case we have presented repre- 

 sents an exhaustion of all applicable 

 methods at our disposal. We do not feel 

 completely qualified to apply immu- 

 nological techniques such as those used 

 successfully by Rothschild and Turn- 

 bull (1987) in their recent diagnosis of 

 syphilis. We are also not sure how 

 eflTective such methods would be in our 

 case, that is, concerning nonspecific 

 contamination. For this reason and in 

 the spirit of the preceding proposal, we 

 have presented our case for discussion 

 in the hope of finding a more concrete 

 basis for our submitted diagnosis of 

 noma. Skin and soft tissue samples are 

 available upon request. However, due 

 to the limited quantity of research mate- 

 rial, we reserve the right to select the 

 applicants correspondingly. 



Acknowledgments 



The authors are indebted to Profs. E. 

 Grosshans, Clinique Dermatologique, 

 Strasbourg, and J. Maleville, Service 

 de Dermatologie, Centre Hospitaller et 

 Universitaire, Bordeaux, to D.H. Con- 

 nor, M.D., Chairman of the Depart- 

 ment of Infectious and Parasitic 

 Diseases Pathology, Armed Forces In- 

 stitute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 

 We also appreciate the help of M. 

 Tomsky, Department of Dermatology, 

 University of Tubingen, and S. Piiiibo, 

 Department of Cell Research, Wallen- 

 berg Laboratory, University of Upsala. 



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Summary of audience discussion: Some 

 of the audience members questioned the na- 

 ture of some histologic structures presented 

 as lymphocytes, feeling their size and shape 

 would more probably suggest they are bac- 

 teria. 



Zagreb Paleopathology Symp. 1988 



