Historians have long suspected European colonists brought the smallpox-causing Orthopoxvirus variola virus to the Americas, ...

Until now, there had been no direct genetic evidence linking colonial-era outbreaks in the Americas to strains circulating in ...

Historians have long speculated that Europeans introduced smallpox to the Americas, which then killed hundreds of millions of ...

Researchers have recovered the first smallpox virus genomes ever identified in the Americas, providing evidence it was ...

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have recovered and analyzed the first ancient smallpox virus genomes ever identified ...

Scientists recovered ancient smallpox DNA from two Indigenous mummies in Chile, providing the first genetic evidence that the ...

(Anatoli Myshlyaev/Moment/Getty Images) Smallpox is an age-old scourge with a terrible history. Caused by the variola virus, ...

Scientists have found smallpox viruses in the remains of people in Chile from around 500 years ago, revealing how the virus ...

A groundbreaking scientific discovery has provided the first molecular evidence that European colonizers brought devastating ...

Camarones Pacific coast in northern Chile near the Inca archaeological site of Camarones 9, where two human mummies dating to ...

Ancient mummy DNA recovered in Chile has yielded the firmest evidence yet that European colonization brought smallpox to the ...

More than 400 years ago, two people living in modern day Chile died while infected with the smallpox virus. Viral DNA found in their mummified remains has now yielded genetic evidence of when the ...