Thursday, November 10, 2011

Did native Americans transmit new diseases to colonists, or was it really all one-way?

Was reading some history, ran into transmission of disease into populations with no immunity. I've seen many articles & references re Europeans transmitting diseases like smallpox, measles, etc. into native American and African peoples. But I've never seen anything that mentioned the Europeans contracting or dying from new diseases transmitted by the native population. Logic says it must have happened. Europeans would only have immunity to diseases found in Europe. So--Is this another one of those glaring history book omissions, or is it that I simply haven't found the info? Got interested in this topic due to the rapid spread of new viruses happening because we are now so incredibly mobile & now I'm curious.

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