Holy Mother Of Heaven....Another Myth Exploded

We have been blaming European explorers from bring communicable diseases to North and South American and now we find it might have been the other way around and I have to wonder how we can get compensation from the indigenious peoples.....how many other myths can we explode.

Study suggests Columbus brought syphilis to Europe

Updated Mon. Jan. 14 2008 8:40 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

It was likely Christopher Columbus or one of his men who introduced syphilis into Europe, where it would go on to spread and kill thousands, a new study suggests.

Kristin Harper of Emory University in Atlanta, GA came to her conclusions after conducting a "phylogenetics" study-- a genetic analysis to determine the evolutionary relationship of a group of diseases.

In this case, the team studied 26 strains of Treponeme bacteria, a family of bacteria that causes a group of diseases that includes syphilis as well as the tropical diseases yaws and bejel (also called endemic syphilis).

All are caused by Trepeonemas: syphilis is caused by Treponema pallidum. Yaws, by Treponema pertenue and bejel by Treponema pallidum.

Harper's team found that yaws is an ancient infection in humans, while venereal syphilis arose relatively recently.

As well, her team found that the closest relatives of syphilis were strains collected in South America that cause yaws, a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by Treponema pertenue.

Harper says that supports the theory that syphilis -- or some kind of early form of it-- came from the New World.

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