Egypt Ancient Egypt - Tuberculosis, Polio, & Smallpox Fossil records and mummified human remains reflect the prevalence of the disease Tuberculosis in ancient times. Our earliest record of a viral disease is polio. This hieroglyph, about 1500 BC, shows the withered leg of a victim of polio. The mummified remains of pharaoh Rameses, 1292-1225 BC, shows the pockmarked face characteristic of smallpox.