Columbus to Blame for Syphilis?

A new study has apparently found evidence that Christopher Columbus brought syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), from the New World to Europe. Evolutionary biologist Kristin Harper ran the study from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

There is just one problem with this so-called evidence … it is all theory.

The New World was founded in 1492 and according to Harper’s research there was a syphilis outbreak in 1495 in Naples, Italy after Columbus returned to Europe from the New World. That would mean that Native Americans had the disease before Columbus discovered America. There is no record of Native America’s having any kind of major diseases until white man came and brought with them diseases that would eventually kill millions of Native American’s

It seems to make more sense to say that Europeans brought syphilis with them to the New World and took it back with them when most of them left to return home. It is also important to note that no one is actually saying that Christopher Columbus himself has syphilis, but that men who sailed with him to the New World did.

The truth is that no one will ever know 100% why and where syphilis started. In the big picture, finding out where it started is not as important as the here and now. We need to find a way to prevent it. Knowing the past of the disease will not help us treat it today. From the 1400’s to now syphilis has more than likely evolved and changed, just like the common flu changes a little each and every year it comes around.

This is a clear class of money being used to research something of little use in today’s health news. The money that was wasted on this research could have been used to research for a cure for AIDS or cancer, something we need. We wonder why there isn’t a cure for cancer yet and then find out people are researching who brought what to who back in the 1400’s. We need to heal the here and now; we cannot heal anything from way back then.