New Hypothesis for Cause of Epidemic among Native Americans, New England, 1616–1619

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 2–February 2010

Volume 16, Number 2–February 2010
Historical Review
New Hypothesis for Cause of Epidemic among Native Americans, New England, 1616–1619
John S. Marr and John T. Cathey
Author affiliations: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia, USA (J.S. Marr); and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (J.T. Cathey)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
In the years before English settlers established the Plymouth colony (1616–1619), most Native Americans living on the southeastern coast of present-day Massachusetts died from a mysterious disease. Classic explanations have included yellow fever, smallpox, and plague. Chickenpox and trichinosis are among more recent proposals. We suggest an additional candidate: leptospirosis complicated by Weil syndrome. Rodent reservoirs from European ships infected indigenous reservoirs and contaminated land and fresh water. Local ecology and high-risk quotidian practices of the native population favored exposure and were not shared by Europeans. Reduction of the population may have been incremental, episodic, and continuous; local customs continuously exposed this population to hyperendemic leptospiral infection over months or years, and only a fraction survived. Previous proposals do not adequately account for signature signs (epistaxis, jaundice) and do not consider customs that may have been instrumental to the near annihilation of Native Americans, which facilitated successful colonization of the Massachusetts Bay area.

Retrospective studies have inherent, sometimes insurmountable, biases, but speculation on past events by historians and anthropologists is commonplace and offers grist for future studies. We offer an alternative hypothesis for the cause of an epidemic among Native Americans in the years immediately before the arrival of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. During 1616–1619, many persons died of a disease that presumably spared nearby European fishermen and traders (1). The more severe manifestations were fever, headache, epistaxis, jaundice, and skin lesions. Speculations as to the cause have included plague, yellow fever, and smallpox (2–7), as well as influenza, chickenpox, typhus, typhoid fever, trichinosis, cerebrospinal meningitis, and syndemic infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis D virus (HDV) (Table 1) (6–11). We propose another disease: leptospirosis, accompanied by Weil syndrome. With its more severe manifestations, this syndrome is consistent with available clinical information, the nidality of Leptospira organisms, the introduction of rodent reservoirs, and the presence of favorable ecologic niches. Practices of the local population placed it repeatedly in high-risk exposures to epidemic and hyperendemic environments.

Epidemiology
The limited information available notes the following clinical manifestations of the illness: headache and fever with visible signs of epistaxis and jaundice. Mode of transmission was not known. Weather and seasonality are unknown, although tree ring data suggest greater than average rainfall in eastern Massachusetts during 1615–1625 (12). The duration of the epidemic (or epidemics) reportedly ranged from 3 to 6 years. Estimated death rates (which lack reliable numerator and denominator data) range from one third of the local population to as high as 90% (1,13). The Patuxet (Plimouth) Native American village was severely depopulated (14). Referring to conditions along the Newfoundland and Maine coasts, where some believe the epidemic may have originated, Pierre Biard, a Jesuit missionary, noted: "They [the Indians] are astonished and often complain that since the French mingle and carry on trade with them, they are dying fast, and the population is thinning out" (15). In New England, Smith noted "three plagues in three years successively neere two hundred miles along the coast" of southern Massachusetts to Cape Cod and inland for 15 miles (16). Bennett suggested a 50–60-mile interior extension, which corresponds to the area of native corn horticulture (17).

Suggested Citation for this Article
Marr JS, Cathey JT. New hypothesis for cause of an epidemic among Native Americans, New England, 1616–1619. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Feb [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/2/281.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1602.090276

abrir aquí para acceder al documento CDC EID completo del cual se reproduce una pequeña parte:
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/2/281.htm