Wikimedia CommonsWhen Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean and touched down in North America in 1492, he changed the world forever. He bridged the "old" world in Europe, Africa, and Asia with the "new" world in the Americas. Along with their own set of diseases at the time, Columbus' arrival created a devastating concoction of maladies. "But it also launched a clash of infectious diseases." AdvertisementOf the estimated 250,000 natives in Hispaniola, Columbus' first stop in the Americas in 1492, new infectious diseases wiped out a staggering 236,000 Indigenous people by 1517 — nearly 95% of their population.

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Persons: Christopher Columbus, Stephen Prescott, — Organizations: Wikimedia, Stephen Prescott , Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Malaria Locations: West Indies, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas, Columbus, Stephen Prescott , Oklahoma, Hispaniola, Lyme