Shebam! Pow! Blop! Wizz!
The first recorded syphilis epidemic flared up in war-torn Naples in 1494, only two years after Columbus discovered the New World. From there syphilis spread throughout Europe. Ever since then, controversy has raged about the origin of syphilis.
A popular belief is that Columbus’s crew got infected in the New World and brought the spirochete back to Europe, where they transmitted the disease to others while serving as mercenaries during the first Italian War. The competing pre-Columbian hypothesis asserts that syphilis was always present in the Old World yet wasn’t recognized until 1494.
