3. Christopher Columbus May Have Infected the New World With an STD
Few men have the mixed legacy that Christopher Columbus has. He is celebrated for discovering the New World and opening up trade between the Americas and Europe. However, much of that trade consisted of slaves and the products that they cultivated, like sugar and tobacco. Even though the Vikings landed in modern-day Canada 500 years before Columbus set sail, he has a day named after him to commemorate his landing on the island that he termed Hispanola.
Though he believed his mission to be divinely sanctioned, Columbus carried out acts of brutality against the natives that he encountered. He and his crew are also credited with inflicting them with diseases to which they were not immune; in fact, diseases brought over to the New World by Europeans killed off as many as 90% of the native people. What is under question now is whether Columbus may have brought over an uncertain STD with him, which spread among the natives.
Five hundred years after his death, there is no way to be sure. However, he had characteristics of what is now known as Reiter’s syndrome, which is caused by some STDs. However, some modern medical researchers who are exploring the question of whether or not he brought STDs to the New World believe that he acquired Reiter’s syndrome from food poisoning.