| Title |
The origin and antiquity of syphilis revisited: An Appraisal of Old World pre‐Columbian evidence for treponemal infection
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, November 2011
|
| DOI | 10.1002/ajpa.21613 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Kristin N. Harper, Molly K. Zuckerman, Megan L. Harper, John D. Kingston, George J. Armelagos |
| Abstract |
For nearly 500 years, scholars have argued about the origin and antiquity of syphilis. Did Columbus bring the disease from the New World to the Old World? Or did syphilis exist in the Old World before 1493? Here, we evaluate all 54 published reports of pre-Columbian, Old World treponemal disease using a standardized, systematic approach. The certainty of diagnosis and dating of each case is considered, and novel information pertinent to the dating of these cases, including radiocarbon dates, is presented. Among the reports, we did not find a single case of Old World treponemal disease that has both a certain diagnosis and a secure pre-Columbian date. We also demonstrate that many of the reports use nonspecific indicators to diagnose treponemal disease, do not provide adequate information about the methods used to date specimens, and do not include high-quality photographs of the lesions of interest. Thus, despite an increasing number of published reports of pre-Columbian treponemal infection, it appears that solid evidence supporting an Old World origin for the disease remains absent. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 40 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Chile | 4 | 10% |
| Spain | 3 | 8% |
| Argentina | 3 | 8% |
| Mexico | 2 | 5% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 3% |
| Ecuador | 1 | 3% |
| Austria | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 25 | 63% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 39 | 98% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 3% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 239 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 2 | <1% |
| United States | 2 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Ireland | 1 | <1% |
| Canada | 1 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
| Mexico | 1 | <1% |
| Croatia | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 229 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 46 | 19% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 37 | 15% |
| Student > Master | 33 | 14% |
| Researcher | 26 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 21 | 9% |
| Other | 43 | 18% |
| Unknown | 33 | 14% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Social Sciences | 50 | 21% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 50 | 21% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 36 | 15% |
| Arts and Humanities | 25 | 10% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 14 | 6% |
| Other | 24 | 10% |
| Unknown | 40 | 17% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 182. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 January 2024.
All research outputs
#223,704
of 25,660,026 outputs
Outputs from American Journal of Physical Anthropology
#47
of 3,890 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,016
of 245,747 outputs
Outputs of similar age from American Journal of Physical Anthropology
#1
of 29 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,660,026 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,890 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
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