Spain's typhus epidemic revealed by 18th century skeletons

By studying the dental pulp of skeletons buried in Douai (northern France), French researchers from CNRS and the Universite de la Mediterranee have identified the pathogenic agents responsible for trench fever and typhus. Published in the journal PLoS ONE, this work reveals for the first time the presence of typhus in Europe at the start of the 18th century and lends weight to the hypothesis that this disease could have been imported into Europe by Spanish conquistadors returning from the Americas.

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