The Origin and Antiquity of Syphilis: Paleopathological Diagnosis and Interpretation [and Comments and Reply]

Evidence of Periostitis in Joseon Dynasty Skeletons

“…With respect to the origin of syphilis, a number of theories have been debated among paleopathologists around the world. Some researchers have posited "the Columbian Origin of Treponematoses", according to which syphilis was originally indigenous to America, and then spread to other parts of the world, especially the Old World, after Columbus' discovery [18,[24][25][26][27]. …”

Cuidar, controlar, curar: ensaios históricos sobre saúde e doença na América Latina e Caribe

“…11 Atualmente, a origem da sífilis continua controvertida. Embora ao longo do século XX a maioria dos médicos acreditasse que a sífilis era desconhecida no Velho Mundo antes do século XV (Macneill, 1976;Baker & Armelagos, 1988), nas últimas décadas mais e mais evidências têm sido produzidas pela antropologia biológica, mostrandose casos de ossos humanos encontrados em várias partes da Europa e na África subsaariana, que apresentam sinais de terem sido atingidos pela sífilis em período anterior às viagens de Colombo (Steyn & Hennerberg, 1995). 12 As idéias de Julien Joseph Virey também foram analisadas por Anne C. Villa, que, para além do determinismo racial, aponta também o determinismo sexual e a misoginia presentes em seu pensamento.…”

Treponemal disease in the Old World? Integrated palaeopathological assessment of a 9th–11th century skeleton from north-central Spain

“…Modern ethnohistorical and palaeoanthropological studies from Jamaica have indeed suggested that the indigenous Taínos (Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas and Antilles) suffered endemically from syphilis, and used medicinal plants to treat this (Santos et al, 2013). For many years the archaeological evidence supported this American origin (Baker and Armelagos, 1988;Powell and Cook, 2005), as the vast majority of incontestable syphilis cases were found in New World sites. For example, Rothschild et al (2000) recognized acquired syphilis in Pre-Columbian archaeological remains in areas where Columbus actually had contact with the natives, identifying the Dominican Republic as the point of initial contact with syphilis and subsequent spread from the New to the Old World.…”