In yesterday's post I mentioned some studies that investigated the "American" strain of leprosy, which dates back to pre-Columbian times. It is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Today's post shows that over 135 years ago, some scientists suspected that there had been cases of pre-Columbian leprosy in America.
Muñiz and Ashmead
According to Máximo Farro and Irina Podgorni (2015) ("Pre-Columbian Moulages" Huacos, mummies and photograps in the International controversy over precolumbian diseases 1894-1910a Medicine nei secoli arte e scienza, 27/2 (2015) 631-654), it was Manuel Antonio Muñiz (1861-1897), a physician who had studied medicine in the San Marcos University in Lima, who in 1886 published the first article on pre-Hispanic leprosy. He mentioned that the Spanish conquistador, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1509-1579), who had founded Bogotáa (now the capital of Colombia) in 1538, had become infected with leprosy in America.
Muñiz also collected native artifacts and skeletal remains, some of which he interpreted showed signs of the deformation caused by leprosy. He shared his collection with during different international medical and anthropological meetings, and in 1895 published a formal paper on his findings about leprosy in America.
Muñiz startled the scientific world, if there was leprosy in America before the arrival of Europeans, it meant that either it was taken there by previous, unknown voyagers to the New World, or, it had an independent origin there.
At that same time, an American physician who had specialized in leprology, Albert Sydney Ashmead (1850-1911), also published on this subject. Ashmead was one of the founders of the International Leprosy Congress, and defended these ancient American cases of leprosy againts the critics who suggested that the lesions were not leprous, but syphilitic or caused by leishmaniasis .
The image above shows the title of the paper by Robert Lehmann-Nitsche (1899) "Lepra Precolombina ensayo crítico" (Pre-Columbian Leprosy, critical essay) Revsta Museo de La Plata Vol. 9, p.337. In it, he reviews the history and evidence supporting or disproving an endemic leprosy in america. The author concludes that there was a disease that caused the lesions reported by Ashmead and Muñiz, but that he didn't believe it was leprosy.
The outcome of endless scholarly discussions was that there had been no leprosy in America before the Europeans brought the Old World strain of leprosy to the continent after 1492.
As we now know, Muñiz and Ashmead were right. There was an American strain that caused leprosy, an ancient one, distinct from the Old World variety.
Further Reading
Pre-Columbian leprosy, Albert S. Ashmead. American Medical Association, 1895.
Pre-Columbian Leprosy. Albert S. Ashmead, M.D., JAMA, February 10, 1900 1900;XXXIV;(6):379. doi:10.1001/jama.1900.02460060063020
Regarding Pre Columbian Leprosy, Dr. H. Polakowsky, Berlin p.260 May 1900. The St. Louis Medican and Surgical Journal. 78.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©
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