A massive population collapse in Mexico followed the Spanish invasion.
Influenza, small pox, measles, mumps, etc. were the cause and of course these diseases were known to Spanish doctors, and since most Spaniards had had these diseases as children (and survived) they were immune.
But one of the largest epidemics was unknown to both Spanish and Aztec doctors:
When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico Some Spanish were affected, but most lived, but most of the Indian populaion died.
Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico
For years the reason behind this epidemic was unknown, but recent DNA studies show it might have been a paratyphoid germ.
so did it come with the Europeans? Yet a similar outbreak of a hemorrhagic fever occured before the Europeans,
one should note that a lot of diseases could give similar symptoms of bloody diarrhea, aka dystentary and some of them have rashes.
So was it spread via vermin, or via contaminated water? That is another question since typhoid and paratyphods usually are spread via the 4F routes: Fingers (from not washing hands and then spreading the germ to something you touch), feces (including contamination of the water supply because the outhouse/latrine is near the water supply), food (example chickens and eggs are often contaminated. Luckily cooking destroys the germs, but if the salad was washed with the contaminated water, you could get sick) and flies (insects, fleas on rats, etc.).
A reminder why the Four horsemen of the apocolypse were war, famine, disease, and anarchy.
a similar convergence of famine, war, and anarchy occured with the Philippine revolt against the Spanish and then against the Americans. American Apocolypse is a book that describes how and why these things were linked, and happened even when the invaders didn't want it to happen and had a crude idea of public health and sanitation.
so should you worry about this disease being brought up from Central America and Mexico with all those immigrants?
Probably not: since sanitation and antibiotics can stop it's spread. And these germs are already in the USA and cause outbreaks of food poisoning from salads, unclean hands, or improperly cooked chicken. I have also seen cases from those cute tiny pet turtles we used to give to kids.
Luckily, antibiotics, and fluids (sometimes IV Fluids are needed) treat the disease. And basic sanitation (including washing hands) can stop the spread.
There is a vaccine for typhoid, but the vaccines for paratyphoid (Salmonella) are available but have problems due to the many variations of the germ.
but when I read about the homeless in the USA, I worry about the poor sanitation will cause spread of disease: it has already resulted in a major Hepatitis A epidemic in San Diego.
----------------------------Shigella also causes bloody diarrhea and high fever similar to paratyphoid and is spread in a similar manner, and as a doctor I have seen some cases.
and can cause epidemics such as among the soldiers in Gallapoli where 100 thousand got sick, and in Japan, in 1897, where 90 thousand got sick and 20 thousand died, and where where Dr. Shiga was the one who discovered the germ.
In the second half of the twentieth century, large outbreaks of disease due to Sd1 were still being reported in Central America, with estimates of more than 500,000 cases and 20,000 deaths for the 1969–1973 epidemic, in Africa, where there were an estimated 100,000 cases and 5,000–10,000 deaths in the 1979 epidemic and in Asia.
and earlier epidemics of similar symptoms (dysentary aka bloody flux is also caused by paratyphoid. ameoba, and some viruses) were alas common and caused a lot of deaths before modern medicine.
and ignore the claims it will get worse with global warming. The spread in Portland is due to the basic failure of the public health system to clean up the streets, and by activists who insist that defecating in the streets is a human right.
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