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Aztec Society Collapse Linked to Salmonella


Claire.

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Collapse of Aztec society linked to catastrophic salmonella outbreak.

One of the worst epidemics in human history, a sixteenth-century pestilence that devastated Mexico’s native population, may have been caused by a deadly form of salmonella from Europe, a pair of studies suggest.

In one study, researchers say they have recovered DNA of the stomach bacterium from burials in Mexico linked to a 1540s epidemic that killed up to 80% of the country's native inhabitants. The team reports its findings in a preprint posted on the bioRxiv server on 8 February.

This is potentially the first genetic evidence of the pathogen that caused the massive decline in native populations after European colonization, says Hannes Schroeder, an ancient-DNA researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen who was not involved in the work. “It’s a super-cool study.”

Read more: Nature.com

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The good, bad and ugly of Salmonella certainly has been getting some press lately.  Within days, the ancient killer went from unexpected cure for cancer back to the bane for which it has long been known.

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