Plague in Athens--Typhoid or not (take 2)

In a post on 1/29/06 I referenced a report that an article in the International Journal of Infectious Disease concluded typhoid was responsible for the death thousands in Athens in around 430BC bringing about the eventual downfall of Athens. See the online abstract of the article here: M. J. Papagrigorakis, et al., DNA examination of ancient dental pulp incriminates typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens. International Journal of Infectious Disease. (When the article is available with a citation I will make a new post.)

Now, however, before this article is in print, a challenge has been made to its conclusion. B. Shapiro, et al., reply in an article that has been accepted for by the same journal question some of the methodology of the Papagrigorakis, et al., and conclude that "What is certain is that the sequences obtained do not implicate typhoid as the cause of the plague." When that become available online, I will post a link to the abstract.

Tom