Original Syphilis Strain Shows Remarkable Difference to Modern Variant
Syphilis Case
Most people know that syphilis is not the kind of condition that makes it hard for the infected to spread the condition by having sex, or being spread by skin contact.
However, scientists have found that in an isolated community once visited by European explorers may carry the original form of the syphilis bacteria.
The result is markedly different from the modern incarnation, spreading by skin contact and putting most displeasing marks and boils on the infected person’s skin.
You don’t get too many bits of news that makes a significant impact on medical science when it comes to old diseases that have long been treatable.
Then again, you don’t hear much about things like the possible, definitive origin of any one illness.
However, a recent discovery of an isolated bacterial infection in an isolated area, among an isolated population of natives, has done just that: shock the medical world.
You see, the infection has some qualities that make it very startling
First is the sheer isolation of it, such that it was largely contained within the population and a small area around it. Second, it is a particularly nasty little skin ailment.
Third, this disease happens to be syphilis.
Yes, that syphilis. This is the same syphilis that got to Al Capone.
This is the same syphilis that, unless having antibiotic resistance, is easily treated by the use of conventional antibiotics.
This is the same syphilis that was brought over by European explorers from areas of the New World back home.
The same syphilis that is known for being sexually transmitted and is often cited as one of the many conditions one can avoid by not engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse.
The bacterial strain, the symptoms, and the effects were all found to be largely the same, but there was one major difference between the isolated syphilis and the syphilis we all know and wish to avoid.
The isolated one, which is believed to be the original strain, is not sexually transmitted
Some have taken this as a rather unpleasant reminder of the power of the diseases that we fight, and the bacterial strains that are now making some seek out generic antibiotic alternatives.Syphilis, based on the findings, was not the sexually transmitted pathogen that the modern world is aware of in that isolated community.
It was transmitted through basic skin contact among the natives, but this was far too unlikely an occurrence among European peoples at the time and maybe even now, but that is arguable.
So what happened?
The bacteria adapted to the new environment and the conditions that came with it, eventually finding a way to be transmitted that was reliable and still somewhat similar to how it used to spread: sexual intercourse.
Sex, after all, has always been a fairly reliable means of spreading virtually any microbial creatures from one person to another.
Now here’s something even more interesting. So far, we’ve found that syphilis jumped from being spread through skin contact to being transmitted through sex.
When one takes a look at the earliest signs of having the condition, it was found that the general effects were not very aesthetically pleasing.
In Fact
One might argue that it counteracted the disease’s newfound means of transmission.After all, if an infected person is incapable of having sex because everyone around him finds his dark green boils and pus-coated skin terribly unattractive is likely doing a poor job of spreading the condition.
Over time, though, it was notable that these overt signs became less and less prominent.
In fact, the modern, sexually-transmitted syphilis is actually rather difficult to spot based on physical examination alone.
In other words, the condition evolved to improve its likelihood of spreading. Hoping that there are medicines that that can cure all of this diseases.
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