Travelling Tummy Bugs

When Christopher Columbus colonised the Americas in the 15th century the consequences for the native people already living there were profound. Some of the harmful things the early colonists brought to the New World were their own strains of pathogens, including these stomach-dwelling Helicobacter pylori bacteria. The bugs are usually transmitted from parent to child but it can also be picked up from close contact. By studying the genetic makeup of Helicobacter pylori in the Americas and comparing them with bacteria in Europe and Africa, researchers have been able to map their origins. They found that strains brought by European colonists and their African slaves spread rapidly across Latin America in the past 500 years. Helicobacter pylori infection is a major issue in South America, contributing to high rates of stomach ulcers and cancers, and could be due to genetic mismatch between Old World bacteria and their new native hosts.

Today is WHO World Health Day

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image by David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, courtesy of Wellcome Images, London, UK
• Milner Center for Evolution, Dept. of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, UK; Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Dept. of Bacteriology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan; and others
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Genetics, February 2017