Genetic analysis of a 5,500-year-old skeleton found in Colombia reveals the oldest known evidence of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium responsible for syphilis and related infections. This discovery decisively shifts the long-standing debate about the disease’s origins, confirming that syphilis – or at least its ancient bacterial ancestor – was circulating in the Americas thousands of years before European contact.
The Century-Old Debate Resolved
For centuries, scientists have argued whether Columbus and his crew brought syphilis to Europe from the Americas or vice versa. Earlier research had already pointed to pre-Columbian cases in Chile and Brazil, but this new evidence pushes the timeline back further still, establishing a clear American origin. The genome extracted from the Colombian remains, named TE1-3, represents a unique lineage distinct from all previously identified strains.
What This Means: Ancient Pathogens and Modern Implications
The genome’s divergence from modern strains dates back approximately 13,700 years, suggesting Treponema was already diversifying in the Americas long before the emergence of the venereal disease as we know it today. Interestingly, the individual from whom the DNA was extracted showed no visible skeletal lesions typically associated with advanced-stage treponemal infections. This raises questions about how the bacterium spread and manifested in early populations – whether it was primarily a non-sexual infection, or if its transmission dynamics were different.
“Current genomic evidence does not resolve the debate about where the disease syndromes themselves originated, but it does show there’s this long evolutionary history of treponemal pathogens that was already diversifying in the Americas thousands of years earlier than previously known.” – Elizabeth Nelson, Molecular Anthropologist at Southern Methodist University
Why This Matters: A History of Globalization
The study highlights the power of paleogenomics – the study of ancient DNA – in understanding disease evolution and risks. The researchers point out that syphilis may have been the first truly globalized infectious disease, predating even HIV/AIDS or COVID-19 in its rapid spread. Tracking how pathogens evolve over millennia can inform modern infection control strategies, especially as syphilis rates have recently risen worldwide.
This discovery underscores the fact that infectious diseases are not new phenomena. They have shaped human history for millennia, and understanding their origins is vital to preventing future outbreaks. The ancient genome provides a critical piece of the puzzle, revealing a deep history of Treponema in the Americas and reshaping our understanding of the disease’s global journey.
