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Ancient bacterial genomes reveal a high diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in early Modern Europe

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Majander,  Kerttu
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Kocher,  Arthur
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Kühnert,  Denise
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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

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Citation

Majander, K., Pfrengle, S., Kocher, A., Neukamm, J., du Plessis, L., Pla-Díaz, M., et al. (2020). Ancient bacterial genomes reveal a high diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in early Modern Europe. Current Biology, 30(19): 2020.07.058, pp. 3788-3803.e10. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0006-E0D8-9
Abstract
Summary
Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15th century. Together with non-venereal treponemal diseases, like bejel and yaws, which are found today in subtropical and tropical regions, it currently poses a substantial health threat worldwide. The origins and spread of treponemal diseases remain unresolved, including syphilis’ potential introduction into Europe from the Americas. Here, we present the first genetic data from archaeological human remains reflecting a high diversity of Treponema pallidum in early modern Europe. Our study demonstrates that a variety of strains related to both venereal syphilis and yaws-causing T. pallidum subspecies were already present in Northern Europe in the early modern period. We also discovered a previously unknown T. pallidum lineage recovered as a sister group to yaws- and bejel-causing lineages. These findings imply a more complex pattern of geographical distribution and etiology of early treponemal epidemics than previously understood.