Ancient Syphilis Genomes Reconstructed

Even among sexually transmitted bacterial diseases, syphilis has had a sordid history with humans. Often referred to as the Great Pox, combating syphilis has earned two Nobel Prizes—Paul Ehrlich in 1908 for the development of arsphenamine treatment and Julius Wanger-Jauregg in 1927 for malariotherapy to treat neurosyphilis. Sadly, syphilis has also been associated with some of the darker days in U.S. history, as the Tuskegee and Guatemalan syphilis studies in the early half of the 20 th ce