Jan 26, 2024 11:43 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1032217
INTRO: Researchers at the Universities of Basel and Zurich have discovered the genetic material of the pathogen Treponema pallidum in the bones of people who died in Brazil 2,000 years ago. This is the oldest verified discovery of this pathogen thus far, and it proves that humans were suffering from diseases akin to syphilis – known as treponematoses – long before Columbus’s discovery of America. The new findings, published in the scientific journal Nature, call into question previous theories concerning the spread of syphilis by the Spanish conquistadors.
The history of the emergence and spread of infectious diseases was of great importance for global health even before the Covid-19 pandemic. With modern laboratory methods, researchers can now detect the tiniest traces of DNA from pathogens in prehistoric finds. That means they can trace back how these pathogens spread historically and their evolutionary development.
An international research group led by Professor Verena Schünemann from the University of Basel, formerly at the University of Zurich, in collaboration with ETH Zurich and the Universities of Vienna and Sao Paulo, examined prehistoric bones belonging to four individuals who died 2,000 years ago in the coastal region of Santa Caterina in Brazil. For some of the individuals visible pathological changes to the prehistoric bones were detected which could indicate that the deceased were suffering from an illness similar to syphilis... (MORE - no ads)
INTRO: Researchers at the Universities of Basel and Zurich have discovered the genetic material of the pathogen Treponema pallidum in the bones of people who died in Brazil 2,000 years ago. This is the oldest verified discovery of this pathogen thus far, and it proves that humans were suffering from diseases akin to syphilis – known as treponematoses – long before Columbus’s discovery of America. The new findings, published in the scientific journal Nature, call into question previous theories concerning the spread of syphilis by the Spanish conquistadors.
The history of the emergence and spread of infectious diseases was of great importance for global health even before the Covid-19 pandemic. With modern laboratory methods, researchers can now detect the tiniest traces of DNA from pathogens in prehistoric finds. That means they can trace back how these pathogens spread historically and their evolutionary development.
An international research group led by Professor Verena Schünemann from the University of Basel, formerly at the University of Zurich, in collaboration with ETH Zurich and the Universities of Vienna and Sao Paulo, examined prehistoric bones belonging to four individuals who died 2,000 years ago in the coastal region of Santa Caterina in Brazil. For some of the individuals visible pathological changes to the prehistoric bones were detected which could indicate that the deceased were suffering from an illness similar to syphilis... (MORE - no ads)