Majander Kerttu, Pfrengle Saskia, Kocher Arthur, Neukamm Judith, du Plessis Louis, Pla-Díaz Marta, Arora Natasha, Akgül Gülfirde, Salo Kati, Schats Rachel, Inskip Sarah, Oinonen Markku, Valk Heiki, Malve Martin, Kriiska Aivar, Onkamo Päivi, González-Candelas Fernando, Kühnert Denise, Krause Johannes, Schuenemann Verena J
Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
Curr Biol. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):3788-3803.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058. Epub 2020 Aug 13.
Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15 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.
梅毒是一种在全球范围内再度出现的疾病，它在15世纪末曾以一场毁灭性的流行病给欧洲历史留下了印记。连同如今在亚热带和热带地区发现的非性病性密螺旋体病，如地方性梅毒和雅司病，它目前在全球范围内构成了重大的健康威胁。密螺旋体病的起源和传播仍未得到解决，包括梅毒可能从美洲传入欧洲的情况。在此，我们展示了来自考古人类遗骸的首批基因数据，这些数据反映了近代早期欧洲梅毒螺旋体的高度多样性。我们的研究表明，在近代早期的北欧，已经存在与性病梅毒和引起雅司病的梅毒螺旋体亚种相关的多种菌株。我们还发现了一个以前未知的梅毒螺旋体谱系，它作为引起雅司病和地方性梅毒的谱系的姐妹群被发现。这些发现意味着早期密螺旋体流行病的地理分布和病因模式比以前所理解的更为复杂。
