Ancient Colombian Skeleton Pushes Back Syphilis Origins by Millennia
TL;DR Summary
Ancient DNA from a 5,500-year-old skeleton in Colombia reveals an early-diverging Treponema pallidum lineage, suggesting treponemal diseases originated in the Americas long before European contact and estimating the split from other lineages around 13,700 years ago.
- Ancient DNA Reveals Twisted Roots of Syphilis Go Back 5,500 Years ScienceAlert
- 5,500-year-old DNA shows syphilis was rooted in the Americas, before Columbus The Washington Post
- 5,500-year-old human skeleton discovered in Colombia holds the oldest evidence yet that syphilis came from the Americas Live Science
- The bacterium behind syphilis has a far more ancient history than we thought Scientific American
- Ancient bacterium discovery rewrites the origins of syphilis New Scientist
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