Nearly 200 years after his death, researchers continue to try to grant a dying wish of composer Ludwig Van Beethoven to study his health problems. Here's what a DNA analysis of the composer’s hair indicates he had:
A DNA analysis of the composer’s hair indicates he had a genetic predisposition to liver disease and had a hepatitis B infection, which attacks the liver, in his last months of life. Those findings, combined with Beethoven’s reported alcohol use, all point to serious liver problems that have long been considered his most likely cause of death at age 56.
“If his alcohol consumption was sufficiently heavy over a long enough period of time, the interaction with his genetic risk factors presents one possible explanation for his cirrhosis,” Begg said.. Researchers genetically sequenced five locks of hair attributed to Beethoven from his last 7 years of life. When the musical genius died at age 56, he left a letter asking that doctors study his health problems after he died. This weekend marks the anniversary of his death in 1827 in Vienna, Austria.
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