Head to Mexico in the 16th century, the period when about 15 million Aztecs mysteriously disappeared. Millions of these people die from a mysterious illness. After almost five hundred years, scientists have managed to find the exact cause of this strange disappearance. explanation.
Disease kills 15 million Aztecs
Indeed, a team of researchers managed to find the reason for the disappearance of 15 million Aztecs in Mexico in the 16th century. If Everyone agreed that these individuals were swept away by an epidemic known as “Coccolistly.” Meaning “plague” in the Nahuatl language, the scientific community did not agree on its origin.
In a study published in the journal NatureIt has an international scientific team DNA was analyzed from 29 skeletons found in a cemetery northwest of Oaxaca City.. It is at this location that the victims of the plague that broke out in 1545 were buried. Researchers were able Look for traces of Salmonella enterica bacteria, Paratyphi C type bacteria.
These bacteria are spread through food and water and are believed to be The Spanish arrived in Mexico with domestic animals brought by the conquistadors During his conquest of the region in the 16th century.
As soon as a person is infected with these bacteria, He also had fever, headache and bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose. After that the patient was transported in just four days. European settlers had immune systems that were able to protect themselves against these bacteria. However, the Aztec people never faced this disease, they were not able to resist. The epidemic killed 80% of the Aztec population in 1545 and 1576, the years during which two great waves of epidemics occurred.
Bacteria, viruses? Scientists don’t always agree
If this latest study shows, using DNA, that bacteria is responsible for the disappearance of 15 million Aztecs, other scientists are leaning toward another cause. According to another theory of 2006, The disease that killed the Aztecs would be viral and would precede the arrival of the conquistadors. According to the Mexican researcher, the symptoms of the patients who died in a few days and described by the Spanish royal physician Francisco Hernandez, did not correspond to diseases known in Europe.
However, for scientists in studies that confirm the bacterial origin of the epidemic, Salmonella enterica is the prime suspect in the disappearance of these 15 million Aztecs.
