Video 1 min read

What if the history of leprosy were to be rewritten?

Published the Updated By Sacha Tembe and Jeanne Fenouil

Leprosy in the Americas long before the arrival of Europeans? That is what Nicolás Rascovan, a researcher at the Institut Pasteur, has revealed through the analysis of ancient DNA: a bacterium responsible for the disease was already circulating there more than 1,000 years ago, from Canada to Argentina.
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La lèpre : révélation

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© Script: Jeanne Fenouil and Sacha Tembe - Filmmaking: Jeanne Fenouil (video in french, english subtitles available translated by AI)

 

What if the history of leprosy had to be rewritten?

Nicolás Rascovan, a researcher at the Institut Pasteur, reveals a discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew:

In America, Mycobacterium lepromatosis, a bacterium responsible for leprosy, was already circulating more than 1,000 years ago... long before the arrival of Europeans.

Ancient DNA analyses, conducted on human remains from Canada to Argentina, show a striking genetic similarity between different lineages, despite being separated by thousands of kilometers.

This revelation changes our perspective on medical history and the evolution of infectious diseases, even today.