The oldest traces of syphilis were found in South America: they are more than 2 thousand years old
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Scientists discovered DNA of a subspecies of the bacterium that causes syphilis in the bones of four people who lived more than 2,000 years ago in the territory of modern Brazil. This refutes the well-known hypothesis about the origin of the disease.
The sexually transmitted infection was believed to have migrated to Europe after the expeditions led by Christopher Columbus returned from the New World. In the 15th century, the disease literally devastated Europe, writes CNN.
But a new study published in the journal Nature suggests that the true story of the disease is more complex.
A team of scientists studied 99 bones from an archaeological site known as Jabuticabeira II. It is located in the Laguna region of Santa Catarina on the Brazilian coast.
Scientists have recovered the earliest known genomic evidence for the bacterium that causes syphilis and two other related diseases, dating back to long before the first transatlantic contacts.
| Photo: iLexx/Depositphotos |
“This research is incredibly exciting because it is the first truly ancient DNA of a treponem (a genus of bacteria – ed.) that has been recovered from human archaeological remains that are more than a few hundred years old,” said Brenda J. Baker, a professor of anthropology at Arizona State University.
The timing and sudden onset of the first documented syphilis epidemic in the late 15th century have led many historians to conclude that it spread to Europe after the expeditions of Columbus.
But Molly Zuckerman, a professor and co-director of the New and Old World Bioarchaeology Laboratories at Mississippi State University, says a similar study her team conducted previously found T. pallidum bacteria in human remains in Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands dating back to the early 1400s. .
This suggests that some forms of treponemal disease (if not syphilis itself) were already circulating on the continent during Columbus’ expeditions to the New World.
“It is quite clear that Europeans brought a number of diseases (including smallpox) to the New World, wiping out the native population. Therefore, the hypothesis that the New World “gave syphilis to Europe” was attractive to some scientists. – said Sheila A. Lukehart, professor emeritus of the Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the University of Washington.
It will be recalled that scientists discovered a bacterium that “eats” polyethylene.
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