Researchers have recovered the first ancient smallpox genomes from the Americas, providing genetic evidence that the variola virus was introduced to South America during European colonisation.
The study, published in Science, analysed DNA from the naturally mummified remains of two Indigenous people buried in northern Chile. The remains date from approximately 1492 to 1631 and contained fragments of DNA from the variola virus, which causes smallpox.
Read more in the Conversation.