Budapest, Hungary, June 19, 2007—Microbiologist Karoly Nagy takes tissue samples from an 18th-century mummy in the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest.

Nagy claims that there is a scientific connection between an 18th-century tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in the country and genetic changes in 11 percent of Hungary's population in response to the disease. Those changes could be providing partial immunity to HIV/AIDS.

The naturally mummified bodies were discovered in 1994 in a forgotten vaulted crypt in a church in Vác, north of Budapest.

The museum stores 265 mummies and offered tissue samples from each of them for Nagy's research. Scientists found that most of the deceased had been infected by TB.

• More Photos in the News
• Today's Top 15 Most Popular Stories
• Free Email Newsletter: "Focus on Photography"