Human treponematosis and tuberculosis: Evidence from the New World

El-Najjar, Mahmoud Y.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330510412

Cited by 45 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…pallidum emerged in Europe from less virulent strains caught in the New World by Columbus' crew about 450–550 yBP [14],[19],[59]. Assuming this hypothesis, the most recent common ancestor of the whole group of T. pallidum , was found to be dated to 3,900 yBP (Table 3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis at the Crossroad of Phylogenetics and Paleopathology

et al. 2010

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The origin of syphilis is still controversial. Different research avenues explore its fascinating history. Here we employed a new integrative approach, where paleopathology and molecular analyses are combined. As an exercise to test the validity of this approach we examined different hypotheses on the origin of syphilis and other human diseases caused by treponemes (treponematoses). Initially, we constructed a worldwide map containing all accessible reports on palaeopathological evidences of treponematoses before Columbus's return to Europe. Then, we selected the oldest ones to calibrate the time of the most recent common ancestor of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, T. pallidum subsp. endemicum and T. pallidum subsp. pertenue in phylogenetic analyses with 21 genetic regions of different T. pallidum strains previously reported. Finally, we estimated the treponemes' evolutionary rate to test three scenarios: A) if treponematoses accompanied human evolution since Homo erectus; B) if venereal syphilis arose very recently from less virulent strains caught in the New World about 500 years ago, and C) if it emerged in the Americas between 16,500 and 5,000 years ago. Two of the resulting evolutionary rates were unlikely and do not explain the existent osseous evidence. Thus, treponematoses, as we know them today, did not emerge with H. erectus, nor did venereal syphilis appear only five centuries ago. However, considering 16,500 years before present (yBP) as the time of the first colonization of the Americas, and approximately 5,000 yBP as the oldest probable evidence of venereal syphilis in the world, we could not entirely reject hypothesis C. We confirm that syphilis seems to have emerged in this time span, since the resulting evolutionary rate is compatible with those observed in other bacteria. In contrast, if the claims of precolumbian venereal syphilis outside the Americas are taken into account, the place of origin remains unsolved. Finally, the endeavor of joining paleopathology and phylogenetics proved to be a fruitful and promising approach for the study of infectious diseases.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis at the Crossroad of Phylogenetics and Paleopathology

et al. 2010

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“…The so-called epidemic that occured shortly after COLUMBUS return to Europe may have been due to the exchange of treponemal strains between the continents. Prior to this exchange of strains, both the New World and Old World inhabitants were presumably well adapted to their respective strains of treponema (EL-NAJJAR, 1979;ZIMMERMAN and KELLEY, 1982).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probable Treponematosis in Human Skeletons from the Himrin Basin of Iraq

Wada

Ikeda

Suzuki

1987

Journal of Anthropological Society of Nippon

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The purpose of this paper is, first, to present the brief outline of human treponematoses in the World, and second, to appreciate the clinical, osteological, and epidemiological manifestations of treponematosis (endemic syphilis) in Mesopotamia (Iraq) with the paleopathological descriptions on new two skeletons of the Islamic period.The two human skeletal remains which had been excavated from Tell Gubba in the Himrin basin of Iraq showed remarkable pathological changes probably by endemic syphilis.They were of a young adult male and of a mature adult female and were well-preserved.The skull, scapula, ribs, radius, ulna, metacarpal bones, femur, tibia, fibula, and metatarsal bones in the skeletons were involved. The lesions revealed various appearances such as discoloured and pitted or only irregular external surface, striae formation of the compact bone, and deformation of the bone due to circumferential or partial expansion of the compact bone in the macroscopic observations, and as thickening of the compact bone and slight narrowing of the medullary cavity in the roentgenograms.There is little accumulation of the paleopathological data on the endemic diseases in Mesopotamia.Therefore, this description is necessary to appreciate the osteological manifestation, prevalence, and, if possible, history of treponematosis in Mesopotamia.

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“…Flemish, Dutch, Portuguese and North Africans called it the Spanish or Castellan sickness and Japanese, the Canton rash or Chinese ulcer [2][3][4][5]. Name calling has persisted to today Pre-Columbian evidence of treponemal disease abounds in cemeteries in both the New and Old World [11,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. This has led to bizarre claims (e.g.…”

Section: Literary Record Evidence-based Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis: Its History and World Impact

Rothschild¹

2005

CRR

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The history of syphilis is one of irresponsibility, mythology and more recently, scientific insight. Pseudo-Descartian (defined as 'I think, therefore I publish') mythology has until now precluded any cogent discussion of where the disease originated and who was responsible for its spread. Evidence-based research now allows clear separation of syphilis from others in its class of treponematosis. Examination of skeletons from populations with clinically diagnosed bejel and yaws revealed bone alterations distinctive to those diseases and clearly separating them from syphilis. These insights allowed confident identification, for the first time, of the New World origin of syphilis and indeed, the 'smoking gun' in the Dominican Republic. Thus, the role of Columbus' crew in transmitting syphilis from the New World to the Old is confirmed. Finally, the impact of syphilis on history is explored, ranging from character assassination to potential effect on artistic expression and on the madness that enveloped the third to fifth decades of the last century.

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Human treponematosis and tuberculosis: Evidence from the New World

Cited by 45 publications

References 22 publications

Syphilis at the Crossroad of Phylogenetics and Paleopathology

Syphilis at the Crossroad of Phylogenetics and Paleopathology

Probable Treponematosis in Human Skeletons from the Himrin Basin of Iraq

Syphilis: Its History and World Impact

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