Syphilis: A Review of the Controversies on Its Origins and Research of Its Arrival in Quebec, Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The origins of syphilis, caused by _Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum_, have long intrigued researchers and artists alike, resulting in significant scholarly focus in historical and contemporary contexts. This article revisits theories and examines the current literature on the emergence of syphilis in the Americas, particularly Quebec. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive search of online databases, such as PubMed, and historical archives, such as the Osler Library of History of Medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. RESULTS: The prevalent hypothesis is that syphilis was present in the Americas before European contact. There are significant similarities between T. pallidum subsp. pallidum and the non-sexually transmitted T. pallidum subsp. endemicum, underscoring the evolutionary pathways of treponematosis. The theory is that yaws (T. pallidum subsp. pertenue) originated in Africa, spread throughout Asia, and underwent mutations as it moved across continents. As the bacteria reached North America, this spread and mutation likely resulted in bejel (T. pallidum subsp. endemicum). In turn, bejel may have mutated into syphilis. Syphilis is propagated via the blood and can reach the bone. Typical periosteal reactions, which are characteristic of syphilis, may result from this. Bone involvement, typically osteitis or periostitis, is common but not always clinically apparent. Such a bone reaction has been shown in 6%–14% of pre-Columbian skeletons found at different sites in the Americas. A well-documented epidemic resembling syphilis occurred in 1771 in Quebec. CONCLUSIONS: Today, it seems likely that syphilis originated in the Americas. Evidence from pre-Columbian skeletons shows the presence of syphilis in the Americas. Syphilis probably developed as a mutation from other treponemes. The first historical evidence of syphilis in Quebec dates to 1773.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.006 | 0.015 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.017 | 0.032 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.005 | 0.004 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.009 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".