Columbus probably brought syphilis to Europe from New World

William Atkins
Thursday, 24 January 2008 18:28

Science - Biology

According to an Emory University (Atlanta) study, Christopher Columbus and his men may have left the New World with the bacteria that causes syphilis and returned to Europe with it—causing the spread of venereal syphilis.        

U.S. evolutionary biologist Kristin N. Harper, of the Department of Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, Emory of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues studied genetic material taken from the family of spirochete bacteria (Treponema) that cause syphilis (a curable sexually transmitted disease) and related diseases using the technique called phylogenetics.

Phylogenetics is a method that genetically compares organisms (for example, species and populations) as to their similarity as they develop and evolve.

The Harper team studied twenty-six geographically different strains of treponemes and a skin infection yelled yaws, which is closely related to syphilis.

The researchers completed what is considered the most comprehensive comparative genetic analysis conducted on Treponemes and other bacteria that cause similar diseases such as yaws. Their conclusions support the “Columbian Theory” as to the origins of syphilis.

The Columbian Theory states that Columbus brought syphilis, or some ancestor of the bacteria that causes syphilis, to Europe from the New World in 1493.

Harper stated in a January 15, 2008 Emory University article, "We concluded that the closest relative of the modern syphilis strains of bacteria were strains collected in South America that cause the treponemal disease yaws," Harper says. "That supports the hypothesis that syphilis—or some progenitor—came from the New World." [Emory University: “Analysis Gives New Clues to Origin of Syphilis”]

The study’s results appear in journal Public Library of Science's Neglected Tropical Diseases under the title “On the Origin of the Treponematoses: A Phylogenetic Approach.” The authors of the study include Harper, along with Paolo S. Ocampo, Bret M. Steiner, Robert W. George, Michael S. Silverman, Shelly Bolotin, Allan Pillay, Nigel J. Saunders, and George J. Armelagos.

Their summary of the PLoS article states: “Our results lend support to the Columbian theory of syphilis's origin while suggesting that the non-sexually transmitted subspecies arose earlier in the Old World. This study represents the first attempt to address the problem of the origin of syphilis using molecular genetics, as well as the first source of information regarding the genetic make-up of non-venereal strains from the Western hemisphere.”

For additional information on the subject, please go to the ScienceDaily.com article “Columbus May Have Brought Syphilis To Europe From New World.”