The dismal effects of European disease on the Aztecs

It has long been recognized that one of the most disastrous results of European contact with societies in the Western Hemisphere was the introduction of diseases to which the local populations had no immunity. For example, smallpox transferred through trade between European settlers and Native Americans led to widespread outbreaks. Now researchers working with Aztec burials in Mexico have identified the DNA of European-born salmonella, which possibly led to the decimation of 80% of the Aztec population.

Read

Collapse of Aztec society linked to catastrophic salmonella outbreak

By Ewen Callaway

Nature

February 16, 2017