<p><strong><a id="dj.8" title="King Tut" href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0506/feature1/">King Tut</a>, depicted here by a gold funerary mask, was a frail pharaoh, according to a new DNA study. Tutankhamun was beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins, researchers say. (Read the full story:</strong> <a id="q-0." title="&quot;King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows.&quot;" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100216-king-tut-malaria-bones-inbred-tutankhamun/">"King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows."</a>)</p><p>Released Tuesday by the <em><a id="l5_g" title="Journal of the American Medical Association" href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/">Journal of the American Medical Association</a>, </em>the report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding the 14th-century B.C. pharaoh, including how he died and who his parents were.</p><p class="FreeForm">"He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots," said study team member Carsten Pusch, a geneticist at Germany's <a id="vom3" title="University of Tübingen" href="http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/landingpage.html">University of Tübingen</a>. "Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk."</p>

King Tut, With a Healthy Glow

King Tut, depicted here by a gold funerary mask, was a frail pharaoh, according to a new DNA study. Tutankhamun was beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins, researchers say. (Read the full story: "King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows.")

Released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding the 14th-century B.C. pharaoh, including how he died and who his parents were.

"He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots," said study team member Carsten Pusch, a geneticist at Germany's University of Tübingen. "Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk."

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic

King Tut Pictures: DNA Study Reveals Health Secrets

Don't be fooled by the shining visage. Golden boy King Tut was beset by malaria and health issues that forced him to use a cane, a new study says.

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