Cold sores traced back to kissing in Bronze Age by Cambridge research

Image source, Getty Images

A study shows that the spread of cold sores could be traced back to kissing.

The scientists at the University of Cambridge said that the HSV-1 strain of the virus came from the migrations of people from Asia to Europe.

There are over 3 billion people who have the virus.

Researchers have been looking at samples from thousands of years ago.

The study found that the migration resulted in denser populations and increased transmission.

Image source, University of Cambridge

The research team said it was the first to find and sequence ancient genomes of the virus.

Four samples from human remains dating over a thousand years ago were discovered by the researchers.

The team was able to come up with an estimate of the evolution of the virus.

The samples were taken from the roots of four people's teeth.

Image source, University of Cambridge

The earliest record of kissing was found in a Bronze Age manuscript from South Asia.

The Emperor Tiberius tried to ban kissing at official functions in order to stop the spread of diseases.

The head of the ancient DNA lab at Tartu University said that every primate species has a form of herpes and that it has been with us since our own species left Africa.

It could have been linked to kissing, but something happened 5000 years ago that allowed one strain to overtake all others.

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