Human pre-adaptation to leishmania parasites: Insights from twelve Plio-Pleistocene fossil and archaeological sites in Africa

Trájer, A.J. (2026) Human pre-adaptation to leishmania parasites: Insights from twelve Plio-Pleistocene fossil and archaeological sites in Africa. QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL, 765. No. -110220. ISSN 1040-6182

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Abstract

This study aims to assess the climatic suitability patterns of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniases in Africa over the last 4.5 Myr. To achieve this, the climatic suitability values of sand fly vectors, mammalian reservoir hosts, and cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis were modelled in relation to 12 Plio-Pleistocene hominin and archaeological sites across Africa, using palaeoclimatic data from the PALEO-PGEM-Series. The results suggest that climatic conditions could have allowed cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission at Uraha Hill in the late Piacenzian and at Broken Hill and Jebel Irhoud during the second half of the Chibanian. Similarly, the midZanclean Middle Awash and Woranso-Mille regions show high climatic suitability for visceral leishmaniasis. The early Gelasian Sterkfontein and the early-mid-Gelasian Ledi-Geraru also exhibit relatively high climatic suitability values for both leishmaniasis forms, whereas the early-late Gelasian Ileret and the early Calabrian Upper Burgi Koobi Fora appear less suitable for cutaneous leishmaniasis. During the Zanclean-Piacenzian transition, Koro-Toro shows suboptimal conditions for visceral leishmaniasis. Patterns of high present-day Y-A and Y-B allele frequencies overlap with regions that exhibited high climatic suitability during their expansion around 150-100 kya. These patterns are interpreted as reflecting demographic continuity in ecologically stable, leishmaniasis-endemic regions rather than suggesting any form of genetic susceptibility. Taken together, the findings indicate that early human evolution in Africa likely occurred under climatic conditions that could have supported both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis transmission.

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