Read previewThe idea that Christopher Colombus brought back syphilis from the New World might be completely wrong. Interim Archives/Getty ImagesThe timing of the arrival of syphilis in Europe is suspiciousLooking at historical literature, you would think syphilis definitely arrived with the conquistadors. There was a big outbreak of syphilis in Europe in the late 1400s, mostly in harbor towns, seemingly out of the blue. AdvertisementThis suggests that the bones lesions alone don't guarantee that syphilis was present in South America before Columbus, poking holes in the evidence used to support the hypothesis. AdvertisementWith this ancient genome, Schünemann and colleagues were able to discover that the whole Treponema family is much older than had ever been expected.

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Persons: —, Christopher Colombus, didn't, Verena Schünemann, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Brenda Baker, Schünemann Organizations: Service, Business, University of Basel, Arizona State University, Getty Locations: Europe, South America, Barcelona, Spain, Brazil, Asia, Japan, Columbus, India, Americas