Pre-European contact leprosy in the Americas and its current persistence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lopopolo, Maria; Avanzi, Charlotte; Duchene, Sebastian; Luisi, Pierre; de Flamingh, Alida; Ponce-Soto, Gabriel Yaxal; Tressieres, Gaetan; Neumeyer, Sarah; Lemoine, Frederic; Nelson, Elizabeth A.; Iraeta-Orbegozo, Miren; Cybulski, Jerome S.; Mitchell, Joycelynn; Marks, Vilma T.; Adams, Linda B.; Lindo, John; Degiorgio, Michael; Ortiz, Nery; Wiens, Carlos; Hiebert, Juri; Bonifaz, Alexandro; Montes de Oca, Griselda; Paredes-Solis, Vanessa; Franco-Paredes, Carlos; Vera-Cabrera, Lucio; Pereira Brunelli, Jose G.; Jackson, Mary; Spencer, John S.; Salgado, Claudio G.; Han, Xiang-Yang; Pearce, Camron M.; Warren, Alaine K.; Rosa, Patricia S.; de Finardi, Amanda J.; Belone, Andrea de F. F.; Ferreira, Cynthia; Suffys, Philip N.; Fontes, Amanda N. Brum; Vasconcellos, Sidra E. G.; Schaub, Roxane; Couppie, Pierre; Drak Alsibai, Kinan; Hernandez-Castro, Rigoberto; Silva Miranda, Mayra; Estrada-Garcia, Iris; Jurado-Santacruz, Fermin; Orlando, Ludovic; Schroeder, Hannes; Quintana-Murci, Lluis; Del Papa, Mariano; Lahiri, Ramanuj; Malhi, Ripan S.; Rasmussen, Simon; Rascovan, Nicolas
• 署名单位: Pasteur Network; Universite Paris Cite; Institut Pasteur Paris; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite Paris Cite; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Colorado State University System; Colorado State University Fort Collins; Pasteur Network; Universite Paris Cite; Institut Pasteur Paris; National University of Cordoba; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET); National University of Cordoba; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Universite de Toulouse; Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - Institute of Ecology & Environment (INEE); University of Copenhagen; United States Health Resources & Service Administration (HRSA); Emory University; State University System of Florida; Florida Atlantic University; Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez; Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon; Universidade Federal do Para; University of Texas System; UTMD Anderson Cancer Center; Universidade do Estado do Amazonas; Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Instituto Politecnico Nacional - Mexico; Pasteur Network; Universite Paris Cite; Institut Pasteur Paris; Universite PSL; College de France; National University of La Plata; University of Copenhagen; Novo Nordisk Foundation; Southern Methodist University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-10314
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adu7144
• 发表日期: 2025-07-24
• 关键词: diffuse lepromatous leprosy; mycobacterium-lepromatosis; genome; leprae; sequence; disease; virus; efficient; ancient; HISTORY

摘要

Leprosy, caused primarily 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 that M. lepromatosis may have been widespread during the Late Holocene, demonstrating that M. lepromatosis leprosy has a long-standing history in the Americas before European arrival.