King's mouth contained large amounts of bacteria that are not dangerous to a healthy person, but can cause complications if the immune system is weakened.
Scientists have found out from what died King Louis IX Saint of France. It is known that at the time of his death he was 56 years old, but the exact cause of death has not yet been able to name.
To shed light on the mystery were able to scientists from the University of Paris-Saclay. They studied the insides of the king, centuries stored as relics.
Thus, the analysis of a sample weighing 4.3 grams, obtained from the Versailles Cathedral, showed that at the time of death, the king was not ill with plague, amoebiasis and shigellosis (infectious diseases), as well as typhoid fever.
However, the sample contained large amounts of DNA from the harmless bacterium Capnocytophaga sputigena, which lives in the oral cavity. For a healthy person, the bacteria is not dangerous, but can cause complications if the immune system is weakened.
Scientists believe that this bacterium got into the blood of the king, caused sepsis and contributed to the onset of death, reports Microbial Pathogenesis.
Earlier, scientists said that the extinction of the dinosaurs caused silicon dioxide from a meteorite.