{"id":23448,"date":"2026-08-13T13:38:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=23448"},"modified":"2026-08-13T13:38:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:38:01","slug":"chile-mummy-ancient-dna-shows-smallpox-arrived-after-colonization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=23448","title":{"rendered":"Chile mummy ancient DNA shows smallpox arrived after colonization"},"content":{"rendered":"


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DNA recovered from centuries-old mummies in Chile has provided the strongest evidence yet that smallpox arrived in the Americas after European colonization.<\/p>\n

The recent research, published in the journal Science, centers on Chilean mummies whose ancient DNA yielded evidence of smallpox infections dating to the early colonial period.<\/p>\n

Geneticist Shigeki Nakagome of Trinity College Dublin and his colleagues analyzed 13 bone samples previously collected from an archaeological site at Camarones in northern Chile.<\/p>\n

EXPERTS IDENTIFY VICTIMS FROM ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST ‘CATASTROPHIC’ ARCTIC DISASTERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

They then uncovered evidence of two smallpox infections in one man and one woman believed to have died between 1492 and 1631.<\/p>\n

While historians have long known that smallpox reached the Americas following European contact, the discovery marks the first evidence of the disease in that part of South America.<\/p>\n

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Smallpox devastated Native populations after Europeans arrived in the Americas, but questions remain about how the virus spread across the continents.<\/span> (MPI\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The research raises questions about how the virus traveled so far south.<\/p>\n

Smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980 and no longer naturally circulates, was once one of the world’s deadliest diseases.<\/p>\n

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It killed roughly one-third of those infected.<\/p>\n

Those who survived the disease were often left disfigured and scarred.<\/p>\n

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Smallpox, once one of the world’s deadliest diseases, killed roughly one-third of those infected and scarred many survivors.<\/span> (Universal History Archive\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Smallpox devastated Native populations after Europeans arrived in the Americas \u2014 and researchers are still unsure exactly who first brought the virus or how it spread across the continents.<\/p>\n

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The virus may have spread through long-established Native trade networks, while researchers say it also could have passed through Africa amid the expansion of the slave trade.<\/p>\n

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The disease no longer naturally circulates after smallpox was eradicated in 1980 following centuries of deadly outbreaks.<\/span> (Cavallini James\/BSIP\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Patricia Foster, a biologist at Indiana University who was not involved in the research, told The Associated Press (AP) that the findings provide genetic proof of something historians have long understood.<\/p>\n

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“Nobody would ever question that smallpox came to this hemisphere from colonization, but this proves it,” said Foster.<\/p>\n

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Researchers are still unsure who first brought smallpox to the Americas or precisely how the virus spread across the continents.<\/span> (Heritage Art\/Heritage Images via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The discovery is the latest example of DNA offering new clues about diseases and deaths that have puzzled researchers for centuries.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this year, researchers recovered ancient DNA from 5,500-year-old human remains in Colombia containing bacteria related to syphilis, pushing the known history of the disease back more than 3,000 years.<\/p>\n

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This summer, researchers analyzed ancient DNA from the remains of Renaissance ruler Francesco I de’ Medici, potentially solving the centuries-old mystery surrounding his sudden death in 1587.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed reporting.<\/i><\/p>\n

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