Researchers from 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 2000 years ago. This is the oldest confirmed discovery of this pathogen to date and proves that humans were suffering from a syphilis-like disease known as treponematosis long before Columbus discovered America. It was done.New discoveries published in scientific journals Naturecalling into question previous theories about the spread of syphilis by Spanish conquistadors.
The history of the emergence and spread of infectious diseases has been critical to global health even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Using modern experimental methods, researchers can now detect tiny traces of DNA from pathogens in prehistoric finds. This means we can track how these pathogens spread historically and their evolutionary development.
An international research group led by Professor Verena Schuenemann of the University of Basel (formerly the University of Zurich), in collaboration with ETH Zurich, the University of Vienna and the University of São Paulo, investigated the prehistoric bones of four people who died 2,000 years ago. Coastal area of Santa Caterina, Brazil. For some people, visible pathological changes have been detected in the prehistoric bones, which may indicate that the deceased may have suffered from a disease similar to syphilis.
Prehistoric DNA taken from bones more than 2,000 years old
The researchers used a dentist’s drilling tool to remove tiny bone samples under sterile conditions. From these samples, they isolated prehistoric genetic material (ancient DNA) belonging to the pathogen of syphilis.Their research was published in a prestigious scientific journal Natureall bacterial genomes investigated were Treponema pallidum endemicum strain, or the pathogen that causes bejel.
Treponemosis is a group of infections that includes the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. Syphilis as a sexually transmitted disease poses a global health risk, but bejer, which is spread by skin contact, currently occurs only in very arid regions of Africa and Asia.
“Our study shows that endemic syphilis was already present in the humid regions of Brazil about 2,000 years ago,” Schuenemann says. This means that more than 1,000 years before Columbus arrived in the New World, people were already infected with endemic syphilis, probably through skin contact.
Diseases like syphilis arose before Columbus
A heated debate continues today among experts and medical historians about whether Christopher Columbus’ sailors and soldiers brought the sexually transmitted disease syphilis from the New World to the Old World when they returned in 1492. The disease spread rapidly after the end of the 15th century, especially after the end of the 15th century. Port town.
“The fact that this finding represents an endemic type of treponemal disease and not sexually transmitted syphilis means that the origins of sexually transmitted syphilis remain unclear,” said Dr. , says Kertu Majumder, one of the book’s lead authors. the study. However, the authors believe there is much to suggest that treponematosis was already widespread in Europe before the time of Columbus.
“The idea that Columbus brought syphilis to Europe seems unlikely because sexually transmitted syphilis has not been found in South America,” agrees Schuenemann. In fact, her group’s previous findings in countries such as Finland and Poland suggest that some forms of treponematosis were already present in Europe.
Recombination may have facilitated the development of diseases like syphilis
Many species of bacteria exchange evolutionary beneficial traits through a phenomenon known as horizontal gene transfer or recombination. Comparing prehistoric DNA in Brazilian bones with modern pathogens shows that such recombination events were indeed occurring. “While we cannot pinpoint exactly when this exchange took place, it is likely that this is one of the driving mechanisms for the divergence between variants that cause different treponemal infections,” the paper says. said Marta Pra Dias of the University of Basel, the other lead author. study.
Comparing the DNA will also tell you the date. Treponema pallidum The appearance of a family is assumed. Their research shows that these pathogens arose sometime between 12,000 and 550 BC. Therefore, the history of these pathogens goes back much further than previously thought.
“The origins of syphilis still leave room for imagination, but at least now treponematosis is no stranger to American populations who lived and died centuries before Europeans explored the continent.” We now know without a doubt that this was not the case,” concludes Schuenemann. She and her team are confident that her advances in prehistoric DNA analysis could also lead to the discovery of the origins of the venereal disease syphilis.