An Early Holocene case of congenital syphilis in South America

Over millennia, treponematoses have been present in the American continent. The search for the oldest case and the description of the pathological characteristics are fundamental to understanding the evolutionary history of treponemal diseases, as well as the evolution of the humans who contracted them. A child with a minimum age of 9400years before present exhumed at "Lapa do Santo" cave, Brazil, presents characteristic lesions of congenital syphilis. This well-preserved skeleton with dental and bone pathological evidence is the oldest syphilitic case of America and reinforces the presence of syphilis, at least 10,000years ago, in the continent.