TESTS SHOW TUTANKHAMEN DIED FROM MALARIA INFECTION

KING TUTANKHAMEN, THE TEEN-AGED PHARAOH WHOSE EGYPTIAN TOMB YIELDED DAZZLING TREASURES, LIMPED AROUND ON TENDER BONES AND A CLUB FOOT AND MOST LIKELY DIED FROM MALARIA, RESEARCHERS SAID TUESDAY. THERE HAS BEEN SPECULATION ABOUT THE FATE OF THE BOY KING, WHO DIED SOMETIME AROUND 1324 BC PROBABLY AROUND THE AGE OF 19, SINCE THE 1922 DISCOVERY OF HIS INTACT TOMB IN EGYPT'S VALLEY OF THE KINGS. TESTS PERFORMED ON 16 ROYAL MUMMIES FOUND FOUR, INCLUDING TUT, HAD CONTRACTED A SEVERE FORM OF MALARIA THAT LIKELY CUT SHORT TUT'S REIGN, RULING OUT MURDER OF SOME OTHER SICKNESS. SCIENTISTS FROM EGYPT, GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE, INCLUDING ZAHI HAWASS OF EGYPT'S SUPREME COUNCIL OF ANTIQUITIES, COMPILES RESULTS FROM GENETIC AND RADIOLOGICAL TESTING PERFORMED OM THE MUMMIES BETWEEN 2007 AND 2009. THE RESULTS CLARIFY DETAILS ABOUT THE 155 YEAR LONG DYNASTY THAT INCLUDED TUTANKHAMEN, WHO INHERITED THE THRONE AT AGE 11. THE SCIENTISTS SPECULATED TUT WAS WEAKENED BY A BROKEN LEG POSSIBLY FROM A FALL. THAT AND THE MALARIA INFECTION LED TO HIS DEATH, THEY BELIEVE. TUT WAS AFFLICTED WITH A CLEFT PALATE. MILD CLUBFOOT IN HIS LEFT FOOT AND OTHER BONE AILMENTS. HE AND SOME FAMILY MEMBERS HAD A FORM OF KOHLER DISEASE, WHICH CAN CAUSE FOOT N=BONES TO COLLAPSE FROM LACK OF BLOOD BUT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FATAL. BESIDES THE PRICELESS GOLD ARTIFACTS FOUND IN TUT'S TOMB, HE WAS ALSO EQUIPPED FOR THE AFTERLIFE WITH SOME 130 CANES AND STAVES, SOME OF WITH SIGNS OF WEAR, AND A VERITABLE PHARMACY.