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An unknown disease which made people come down with fever, vomiting, and developing blotches on their skin struck the Aztec Empire in 1545. What was more dangerous was the blood which oozed from the eyes, mouth, and nose of the victims after which they died within a few days.
The disease which was named “cocoliztli” or “pestilence” killed over seventeen million people in just five years of it’s outbreak. Scientists and historian’s for long wondered what could have caused such a pandemic and it was found the disease was caused by salmonella.
Many people are aware that salmonella is a food borne ailment which can be contracted from eating for example, raw eggs or chicken.
The salmonella bacteria can cause serious illnesses like typhoid fever and can be very deadly. One strain known as Paratyphi C, causes enteric fever and when left untreated, it can kill up to ten or fifteen percent of the infected.
Paratyphi C is now very rare and strikes people usually in developing countries, where sanitary conditions are poor. According to another DNA research, the outbreak could have contributed to the fall of the Aztec Empire in the sixteenth century.
The European invaders brought many new and drastic illnesses to the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and it’s possible that Spanish invaders brought salmonella to the Aztec in modern-day Mexico through domesticated animals.
The study does not pinpoint the source of the bacteria and leaves open the possibility that it may have originated in the Americas. Yet even the Spanish didn’t bring the disease but played a role in how it affected the Aztec.
The Europeans were known in bringing new livestock but there was a lot of controversies among the indigenous population which would have increased their susceptibility to the disease. There were other claims by scientists that typhus, smallpox, and measles could have also been possible causes of the outbreak.
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