Ancient Chilean Mummies Illuminate How Smallpox Reached the Americas
TL;DR
New DNA analysis of two late 15th–early 17th‑century Chilean mummies uncovered a lost variola (smallpox) strain, providing the first molecular evidence that Europeans carried smallpox to the Americas during colonization and revealing how the virus evolved when Indigenous populations had little immunity; the study also notes how vaccination by Jenner eventually slowed the virus, contributing to its global eradication.
- Chilean Mummies Prove Europeans Brought Smallpox to the Americas—But That’s Not All Gizmodo
- Smallpox DNA Hidden for Centuries in Mummies Found in Chile Suggests European Colonists Brought the Virus to the Americas Smithsonian Magazine
- Smallpox DNA is recovered from Spanish conquest-era Chilean mummies Reuters
- ‘This Is Very Strange’: Ancient Smallpox May Have Been Less Deadly The New York Times
- Smallpox DNA in ancient Inca mummies shows virus came from Europe New Scientist
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