Scientists have discovered evidence of arthiritis in the fossilised elbow of a 70-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur, suggesting the condition is not a modern malady.
The finding is the oldest recorded case of septic arthritis - a condition in which a joint becomes inflamed, often from bacteria or fungus, researchers said.
"Our (duck-billed dinosaur) seems to have been afflicted with septic arthritis, which completely destroyed the elbow joint," said study lead researcher Jennifer Anne, a doctoral graduate from the University of Manchester in the UK.
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David Paris, a curator at the New Jersey State Museum, found the fossilised specimen in New Jersey in the US a number of years ago.
Anne and her colleagues studied the fossil using a micro computed tomography (micro-CT) scanner, 'Live Science' reported.
A micro-CT scanner uses X-rays that are more powerful than those used in CT scanners found in hospitals, providing higher-resolution images, Anne said.
The detailed micro-CT images helped the researchers diagnose the duck-billed dinosaur (or hadrosaur) with a bad case of septic arthritis.
The condition likely gave the dinosaur a limp, and could have "possibly been severe enough for the animal to not use that arm at all," Anne added.
The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.