Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain; CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
François Balloux
UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Lucy van Dorp
UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Corresponding author
Carles Lalueza-Fox
Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Corresponding author
Summary: Ancient pathogen genomics is an emerging field allowing reconstruction of past epidemics. The demise of post-contact American populations may, at least in part, have been caused by paratyphoid fever brought by Europeans. We retrieved genome-wide data from two Spanish soldiers who were besieging the city of Barcelona in 1652, during the Reapers' War. Their ancestry derived from the Basque region and Sardinia, respectively, (at that time, this island belonged to the Spanish kingdom). Despite the proposed plague epidemic, we could not find solid evidence for the presence of the causative plague agent in these individuals. However, we retrieved from one individual a substantial fraction of the Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi C lineage linked to paratyphoid fever in colonial period Mexico. Our results support a growing body of evidence that Paratyphi C enteric fever was more prevalent in Europe and the Americas in the past than it is today.
