New study blames Columbus for syphilis spread

Yahoo ^

[ThanhPhero]

I hadn’t heard that one but Yaws was endemic to West Africa, tooand West Africa was explored about the same time.

[ThanhPhero]

What will they blame on him next?

The penchant for blaming people for stuff.

[TiberiusClaudius]

Correct. Gaetan Dugas

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know, a grain of salt), the "Patient Zero" idea is probably a myth.

[Froufrou]

I wasn’t aware that the Patient Zero theory had come under ridicule; thanks for sharing.

I read the book during the first Gulf War when I was a transcriptionist at Wilford Hall. I was hoping to find a simian connection, but it wasn’t there.

We had an AIDS ward in the hospital and mosquitos were seen coming through the ductwork. I had some concern, at the time, being much younger and people being less educated about AIDS.

[Michael.SF.]

the "Patient Zero" idea is probably a myth.

He did have to get it from someplace, that is certain. However, given his extremely high level of sexual activity he was certainly a primary factor in the early and rapid spread of AIDS.

[wildbill]

I think we had a thread here earlier on a Scottish burial that predated Columbus that showed the characteristic lesions of syphillis on the bones. Quite a mystery.

But back to Columbus.
Lookout: Land Ho!
Columbus: What Ho?
Lookout: Naked Indians Ho!
Columbus: Wonderful Hos! Lower the trous...er...boats.

Poor guys on his voyages didn’t know all those hotties on the beaches without clothes were walking deathtraps.

[Salamander]

NObody-expects-the-Spanish-Infection-ping

[GoLightly]

Skeletons recently unearthed from a medieval friary in the U.K. show unmistakable signs of the disease, researchers say, suggesting that England was hit by the scourge at least 50 years before Columbus’s voyage.

Skeletons excavated at Hull, dated to between 1300 and 1450, had clear signs of syphilis

From my link, "David Evans, who directed excavations at the Augustinian friary, dated the skeletons somewhat later — between 1450 and 1475 — based on stratification."