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Opinion: Manuscripts and Art Support Archaeological Evidence that Syphilis Was in Europe Long Before Explorers Could Have Brought It Home from the Americas
Multiple lines of evidence contradict the idea that the disease came to Europe via trans-Atlantic exchange.
Opinion: Manuscripts and Art Support Archaeological Evidence that Syphilis Was in Europe Long Before Explorers Could Have Brought It Home from the Americas
Opinion: Manuscripts and Art Support Archaeological Evidence that Syphilis Was in Europe Long Before Explorers Could Have Brought It Home from the Americas

Multiple lines of evidence contradict the idea that the disease came to Europe via trans-Atlantic exchange.

Multiple lines of evidence contradict the idea that the disease came to Europe via trans-Atlantic exchange.

history, infectious disease

Black and white photo of excavation<br><br>
Black Death Likely Originated in Central Asia
Andy Carstens | Jun 15, 2022 | 5 min read
Genetic testing of people who died in Kyrgyzstan eight years before plague reached Europe reveals an ancient strain of the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
Human blood in a plastic Intravenous drip bag, the tube running out of the image. Square crop. Horizontal with copy space.
Opinion: What the History of Blood Transfusion Reveals About Risk
Paul A. Offit | Sep 1, 2021 | 5 min read
Every medical intervention—even one with a centuries-long history—brings dangers, some of which become clear only later.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Bob Grant | Aug 10, 2020 | 4 min read
Although modern society seems to be unwilling or unable to learn from the past, doing so just might hold the key to envisioning a brighter future.
Discovery of the Malaria Parasite, 1880
Shawna Williams | Sep 1, 2017 | 2 min read
Most didn’t believe French doctor Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran when he said he’d spotted the causative agent of the disease—and that it was an animal.
The Sled Dogs that Stopped an Outbreak
Ben Andrew Henry | Jan 1, 2017 | 2 min read
Balto, Togo, and other huskies famously delivered life-saving serum to a remote Alaskan town in 1925—but newspapers didn’t tell the whole story. 
Missing Link in Malaria Evolution Discovered in Historical Specimens
Ben Andrew Henry | Dec 1, 2016 | 4 min read
A family’s collection of antique microscope slides became a trove of genetic information about the eradicated European malaria pathogen.
Origins of Dysentery
Bob Grant | Mar 21, 2016 | 2 min read
A new genomic analysis reveals that the pathogen responsible for the gastrointestinal disease likely originated in Europe and hitched a ride to new lands with settlers.
Centennial Shigella
Jef Akst | Feb 1, 2015 | 4 min read
A strain of the dysentery-causing bacterium isolated in 1915 tells the story of a young soldier who died of the disease in the early days of World War I.
The Leprosy Bacillus, circa 1873
Kate Yandell | Oct 1, 2013 | 2 min read
A scientist’s desperate attempts to prove that Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy landed him on trial, but his insights into the disease’s pathology were eventually vindicated.
Religion and Disease
Cristina Luiggi | Aug 25, 2011 | 1 min read
Deadly epidemics can have a profound impact on people’s choice of religion.
Capsule Reviews
Richard P. Grant | Jul 1, 2011 | 4 min read
Solar, The Dark X, The Sky's Dark Labyrinth, Spiral
A Scar Nobly Got
Michael Willrich | Jul 1, 2011 | 3 min read
The story of the US government’s efforts to stamp out smallpox in the early 20th century offers insights into the science and practice of mass vaccination.
Book excerpt from Pox: An American History
Michael Willrich | Jun 30, 2011 | 4 min read
In Chapter 5, "The Stable and the Laboratory," author Michael Willrich explores the burgeoning vaccine manufacture industry that ramped up to combat smallpox epidemics in turn-of-the-twentieth-century American cities.
Deadly Bovine Disease Ousted
Cristina Luiggi | Jun 30, 2011 | 1 min read
United Nation officials declare rinderpest the first animal disease to be fully eradicated.
One-Man NIH, 1887
Cristina Luiggi | Jun 4, 2011 | 2 min read
As epidemics swept across the United States in the 19th century, the US government recognized the pressing need for a national lab dedicated to the study of infectious disease. 
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