Bioarchaeological Contributions to Understanding the History of Treponemal Disease

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain common today, both in developed and developing countries, and they can have serious consequences for fertility and pregnancy. There are over thirty bacterial, parasitic, and viral STIs. The World Health Organization states that more than 1 million people contract one of eight STIs on a daily basis and that each year, independently of the four incurable STI viruses (hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus, the human immunodeficiency virus, and the human papillomavirus), an estimated 357 million new infections are caused by one of the four frequently occurring and treatable bacterial STIs (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis).¹