AI Summary

DNA analysis of Inca mummies revealed a strain of smallpox that originated in Europe, providing the first direct molecular evidence that the disease entered the Americas via European colonisation. The samples were collected from the mummified remains and identified the virus’s genetic signature as matching the early European lineage. Researchers, including Shigeki Nakagome of Trinity College Dublin, interpret the finding as confirming the route of smallpox introduction to the New World.

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