Salmonella enterica genomes from victims of a major sixteenth-century epidemic 
in Mexico

Vågene, Åshild J.; Herbig, Alexander; Campana, Michael G.; García, Robles; M., Nelly; Warinner, Christina; Sabin, Susanna; Spyrou, Maria A.; Andrades Valtueña, Aida; Huson, Daniel; Tuross, Noreen; Bos, Kirsten I.; Krause, Johannes

doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0446-6

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Salmonella enterica genomes from victims of a major sixteenth-century epidemic in Mexico

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Vågene, Åshild J.
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons179620

Herbig, Alexander
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons221103

Warinner, Christina
Kostbare Kulturen, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222907

Sabin, Susanna
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons189338

Spyrou, Maria A.
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons203211

Andrades Valtueña, Aida
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons188392

Bos, Kirsten I.
CoDisEASe, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons72801

Krause, Johannes
MHAAM, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Vågene, Å. J., Herbig, A., Campana, M. G., García, R., M., N., Warinner, C., et al. (2018). Salmonella enterica genomes from victims of a major sixteenth-century epidemic in Mexico. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(3), 520-528. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0446-6.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0004-4EEF-9

Abstract

Indigenous populations of the Americas experienced high mortality rates during the early contact period as a result of infectious diseases, many of which were introduced by Europeans. Most of the pathogenic agents that caused these outbreaks remain unknown. Through the introduction of a new metagenomic analysis tool called MALT, applied here to search for traces of ancient pathogen DNA, we were able to identify Salmonella enterica in individuals buried in an early contact era epidemic cemetery at Teposcolula-Yucundaa, Oaxaca in southern Mexico. This cemetery is linked, based on historical and archaeological evidence, to the 1545–1550 ce epidemic that affected large parts of Mexico. Locally, this epidemic was known as ‘cocoliztli’, the pathogenic cause of which has been debated for more than a century. Here, we present genome-wide data from ten individuals for Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C, a bacterial cause of enteric fever. We propose that S. Paratyphi C be considered a strong candidate for the epidemic population decline during the 1545 cocoliztli outbreak at Teposcolula-Yucundaa.