New finding: Malaria killed King Tut

[Michael]

Conspiracy theorists everywhere will have to cross one more supposed victim's name off their lists: scientists have now determined that King Tutankhamen died from a weakened immune system that could not cope with Malaria. He was also apparently not very healthy in other ways.

Ancient Egypt's most famous pharaoh -- Tutankhamun -- likely died of a combination of bone disease and malarial infection, according to a comprehensive analysis of mummies in his royal family.

And, contrary to long-standing speculation, no signs of gynecomastia (breast development in males) or Marfan syndrome were found by the research team led by Carsten Pusch, of the University of Tübingen, Germany.

Tutankhamun died at age 19 without an heir and after reigning only nine years. His early death, sparked historians' suspicions of murder and familial disease, the researchers wrote in the Feb. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Taken together, their findings suggest that his death was not attributable to foul play but rather his inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and constitutionally weakened condition caused by the combination of a leg fracture and infection with malaria.

Read the full article here.

I don't know if I'll be able to watch the new documentary when it first airs but I'll try to keep an eye out for it.