According to the findings of a comprehensive study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Egypt's favorite boy-king, King Tutankhamun, suffered from a genetic bone disease and malaria, which, together with complications arising from a broken leg, resulted in his death when he was barely 19 years old.

King Tut, who ascended to the throne at the age of 9, is perhaps the best known pharaoh of Egypt because of the wealth of treasures that were during the astonishing unearthing of his intact tomb in 1922.

The DNA study of the 3,300-year-old mummy of King Tut has revealed that the frail Egyptian pharaoh suffered from a cleft palate and club foot, which forced him to walk with a cane. The ailments suffered by King Tut, who was further plagued by malaria, can largely be credited to his incestuous lineage.

Led by Zahi Hawass, one of the leading archaeologists in Egypt, the genetic study corroborates the earlier studies about Tut's incestuous origin - it is believed that Tut's father and mother were brother and sister.

With historians of the view that the new findings about King Tut will in no way dent his widely popular image among the people, Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan, said that the new study will make the frail pharaoh "all the more human and all the more fascinating."