Research Suggests Syphilis Emerged In The Americas Within Last 8,000 Years

The Washington Post (12/18, Y. Johnson) reports that “an international team studied ancient DNA harvested from lesion-ridden bones or teeth of five people who lived in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Mexico either before or around the time of” explorer Christopher Columbus. The researchers “found that early versions of the microbe, Treponema pallidum, that causes syphilis and related diseases were already diverse and widespread.” The findings suggest “that syphilis emerged in the Americas within the last 8,000 years and spread across the globe fueled by European colonization.” The findings were published in Nature.