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Smallpox’s Genetic Trail to the Americas | Anchorage News
Description
Scientists have uncovered the strongest genetic proof yet that smallpox entered the Americas via European colonization, revealing the virus’s direct lineage from medieval European strains through ancient DNA from Chilean mummies dating between 1492 and 1631. This discovery confirms historical devastation, showing how the disease, lethal to Indigenous populations with no immunity, spread as colonization expanded westward — and how it claimed the lives of young adults, leaving a biological scar on the continent’s past.
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