News Genetics

Long before Columbus, seals brought tuberculosis to South America

Marine mammals may have carried TB bacterium across the ocean

South American fur seals

CARRIERS  Seals, like the South American fur seals shown, may have given tuberculosis to people in Peru before European explorers brought the disease to the Americas.

Ricardo Bastida

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Seals brought tuberculosis to South America long before Columbus sailed to the New World, a new study shows.