Syphilis bacteria existed 2,000 years ago in Brazil, centuries before Columbus set sail

The first syphilis epidemic in Europe It was recorded in 1493 after the siege by French troops of the city of Naplesbut where did this venereal disease that wreaked havoc on the old continent between the 15th and 18th centuries come from?

Some believe that this venereal disease caused by the bacteria ‘Treponema pallidum’ It arrived with the crew that returned with Christopher Columbus after discovering the new continent; Others defend that she had been in Europe for some time, but she had not been identified.

Now, a study published this Wednesday in the journal Nature and led by paleogentist at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich (Switzerland), Verena Schünemann, describes the oldest known genome of the bacteria ‘T.pallidum’, found in some human remains from 2000 years ago that were buried in Brazil.

The researchers – an international team made up of scientists from the University of Valencia (eastern Spain), the Valencia Research Institute (Fisabio), and several centers in Brazil and Austria – reconstructed the genome of the bacteria ‘T.pallidum’. ‘that had infected them.

“It is the most compelling and robust evidence that there was Treponema in South America before the arrival of Columbus, a hypothesis that until now was assumed but was not validated”the professor of genetics at the University of Valencia and co-author of the study, Fernando González Candelas, explains to EFE.

Before this research, other studies found indirect evidence in the bones of some remains in Central America that “They were compatible with treponematoses but also with other diseases. Therefore, it was not confirmed that there was Treponema in South America”he emphasizes.

The convoluted origin of treponematoses

The finding sheds light on the convoluted origin of treponematoses, diseases caused by different subtypes of ‘Treponema pallidum’: syphilis (venereal), bejel (non-sexually transmitted) and yaws, which is transmitted by contact with the skin.

“What we have found is a bacteria of the bejel lineage, which today is found in arid, dry and hot climates, very different from the Brazil from 2000 years ago, with a tropical and humid climate”explains the Spanish researcher.

Until now, it was postulated that the bacteria was in America and that the expedition members of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage brought it to Europe from there, but there was no clear evidence of this.

The study, therefore, demonstrates that at least 2000 years ago this bacteria was already in Brazil, specifically the subspecies ‘T.pallidum endemicum’.

By reconstructing the genomes of the bacteria that infected them, the researchers discovered that the pathogen responsible was closely related to the modern species that causes bejel.

The finding reinforces previous suggestions that American civilizations suffered from treponemal infections in pre-Columbian times, and that treponemal disease was already present in the New World at least 500 years before Columbus set sail.

Syphilis in Europe

The study, however, does not shed light on the emergence of syphilis (which is believed to have evolved later), but it does provide a glimpse into the prevalence and characteristics of truly ancient treponematoses.

In 2020, a study by the same authors raised the possibility “reasonable” that ‘T.pallidum’ was in Europe before Christopher Columbus left for America.

They based their hypothesis on evidence of treponematosis that they found in human remains from Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands from the early 15th century (before the discovery of America) until well into the 18th century.

That research discovered that these individuals had suffered syphilis and yaws, a disease that today only occurs in tropical and subtropical regions, and demonstrated “with genomic evidence” that syphilis was in Europe in the Modern Age, but ““We could not establish that it was before the return of Columbus’s first expedition,” comments the professor to EFE.

For that, we would have to find challenges from the syphilis lineage prior to Columbus’ voyage to America and “to see that the same lineage appears later in Europe, exactly the same”, something that has not yet happened, he concludes.