"Perhaps this was also the cause of Egypt's disappearance." Nah, It was a meteor shower, see post #15 & 16 on the thread linked below. This incident probably ended Sodom & Gomorra and provided the fireworks described in Revelations.
Disaster That Struck The Ancients
Interesting thread. Thanks for the link. Will be doing more reading on this topic.
Hippocrates documented syphilis in Greece and skeletons of children in Pompeii show evidence of congenital syphilis.
Maybe this is a question of who brought it to the New World in the first place, eh?
The rheumatoid arthritis claim is also a stretch since to this day the cause is unknown. No one yet, as far as I know, has been able to link it to an infectious agent.