Tuberculosis strain spread by the fur trade reveals stealthy approach of epidemics
Monday, April 11, 2011 - 13:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
French Canadian voyageurs spread tuberculosis throughout the indigenous peoples of western Canada for over 150 years, yet, strangely enough, it wasn't until the fur traders ceased their forays that epidemics of tuberculosis broke out. Now researchers have puzzled out why. It took a shift in the environment of the infected peoples -- in this case, confinement to reservations -- to create conditions conducive to outbreaks.