7 (Ethiopia), Lineage 8 (East Africa), and Lineage 9 (East Africa). Animal-adapted lineages, including M. bovis which infects cattle, evolved from human strains rather than the reverse, contradicting earlier theories about TB's origins.

The discovery of M. tuberculosis Lineage 8 strains in East Africa, which retain genetic features seen in more ancestral mycobacteria but absent in other TB lineages, provides evidence for the ancient African origin of tuberculosis.

Paleopathological evidence

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