The origin of numerous infectious diseases is still a mystery. Syphilis and the other treponematoses are among them. Integrating information on treponematosis from ancient human remains across time and space with modern phylogenetic data on the treponemes holds the potential to enable calculations of the evolutionary rate of treponemes. This in turn allows the origin of syphilis to be disentangled. Such a combination of tools could also be used to shed light on the origin of other infectious diseases that are still a burden to humankind (see article by de Melo et al., doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000575).
Artwork: Eduardo Gameiro. Original photographs: "Syphilis of Skull," Otis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine; "Electron micrograph of Treponema pallidum on cultures of cotton-tail rabbit epithelium cells (Sf1Ep)," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (CDC/Dr. David Cox).
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