Vlok et al. 2026, CC BY-NC 4.0
An analysis of infant remains found in Vietnam is reopening the scientific debate about the origin and spread of syphilis group diseases.
The identified signs of congenital treponematose — a set of bacterial infections that includes syphilis, pian, and endemic syphilis — in three children who lived about 4,000 to 3,200 yearsduring the period neolithic, in two distinct zones of the current Vietnam.
According to researchers, the injuries observed in the teeth and bones are compatible with transmission from mother to child.
Among the signs described are dental changes known as “Moon’s molars”, in addition to bone deformations associated with congenital treponemal infections.
The remains were found in Man Bac in northern Vietnam and An Son in the south, suggesting a geographically wider presence of these diseases in the region than previously thought.
The main implication of the work is the shake-up of an ancient idea of paleopathology: that the existence of congenital cases in ancient skeletons would necessarily point to venereal syphilis.
The authors argue that, in prehistoric Vietnam, the epidemiological pattern seems to indicate rather a non-venereal form of the disease, possibly similar to pian, still present today in tropical areas.
This means that the Congenital transmission may not have been exclusive to venereal syphilisas was assumed for a long time.
“For decades, congenital infection in archaeological remains was often considered strong evidence of venereal syphilis. Our research shows that this assumption is not always true. Other treponemal diseases may also have been transmitted from mother to child,” Melandri Vlok, lead author of the study.
The study analyzed 309 individuals from 16 Vietnamese archaeological sites dating between 10,000 and 1,000 years ago, summarizes the .
Only three showed clear signs of the diseasewhich indicates that it would not be a widespread infection on the east coast of Southeast Asia, but rather localized episodes.
Still, the results question the call “Columbo hypothesis” – syphilis would have arrived in the Old World from the Americas at the end of the 15th century, and reinforce the idea that the history of treponematoses is more complex and ancient than previously thought.
