@article{102317,
  keywords = {Mycobacterium lepromatosis, Ancient DNA, Region of the Americas, Phylogenetic},
  author = {Lopopolo M and Avanzi C and Duchene S and Luisi P and de Flamingh A and Ponce-Soto GY and Tressieres G and Neumeyer S and Lemoine F and Nelson EA and Iraeta-Orbegozo M and Cybulski JS and Mitchell J and Marks VT and Adams LB and Lindo J and DeGiorgio M and Ortiz N and Wiens C and Hiebert J and Bonifaz A and Montes de Oca G and Paredes-Solis V and Franco-Paredes C and Vera-Cabrera L and Pereira Brunelli JG and Jackson M and Spencer JS and Salgado CG and Han X and Pearce CM and Warren AK and Rosa PS and de Finardi AJ and Belone ADFF and Ferreira C and Suffys PN and Fontes ANB and Vasconcellos SEG and Schaub R and Couppié P and Drak Alsibai K and Hernández-Castro R and Silva Miranda M and Estrada-Garcia I and Jurado-Santacruz F and Orlando L and Schroeder H and Quintana-Murci L and Del Papa M and Lahiri R and Malhi RS and Rasmussen S and Rascovan N},
  title = {Pre-European contact leprosy in the Americas and its current persistence},
  abstract = {<p>Leprosy, primarily caused by Mycobacterium leprae , is considered a disease introduced into the Americas during European colonization. However, the recent discovery of a second pathogen causing leprosy, M. lepromatosis , mainly found in the Americas, challenges this view. Here, we show that M. lepromatosis infected humans in the Americas before European contact. By screening 389 ancient and 408 contemporary samples, we have expanded the genetic data available for the species. Phylogenetic analyses revealed distinct human-infecting clades of M. lepromatosis , with one dominating North America since colonial times. The presence of millennia-old strains in North and South America indicates M. lepromatosis may have been widespread during the Late Holocene, demonstrating M. lepromatosis leprosy has a long-standing history in the Americas before European arrival.</p>
},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Science},
  pages = {1-16},
  publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)},
  issn = {0036-8075, 1095-9203},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu7144},
  doi = {10.1126/science.adu7144},
  language = {eng},
}