Move prevents participation in study

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster College officials say their Egyptian mummy will not take part in a study of the progression of a parasitic disease called schistosomiasis, also known as Bilharzia.
In April, British researchers had asked to come and examine the female mummy and possibly take tissue samples. The disease affected people in ancient Egypt and is believed to infect as many as 200 million to 300 million people today in 79 countries.
Medical researchers from the Mummy Tissue Bank at the Manchester (England) Museum are checking to see how the disease has evolved over the centuries, which might hold a clue to its cure.
However, the college and the British medical researchers could not coordinate their schedules to have tissue sample taken from the Westminster mummy, said Samuel Farmerie, director of cultural artifacts for Westminster.
Westminster's mummy, Pesed, will be leaving campus in the next few weeks to be featured in a Harrisburg museum exhibit on ancient Egypt.