Syphilis May Have Originated in the Americas, Study Suggests

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND—According to an ABC News Australia report, a previously unknown strain of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, has been found in 5,500-year-old human remains recovered from the Sabana de Bogota rock shelter in the eastern highlands of Colombia by an international team of researchers. Davide Bozzi of the University of Lausanne said that the discovery pushes back known infection with the bacterium by more than 3,000 years. No signs of syphilis-like disease were found on the bones, but lesions thought to have been caused by diseases like syphilis have been found on other human remains in the area. “This highlights that metagenomic screening can find pathogens in bone even when no visible disease is present, potentially increasing the chances of future discoveries in ‘archaeologically invisible’ cases,” Bozzi said. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science. For more on the genetic study of ancient diseases, go to "Worlds Within Us."