Africa: Can an Ancient Virus Be Brought Back to Life? What 500-Year-Old Smallpox DNA Reveals

What the report says

Researchers have identified fragments of ancient variola virus DNA in the naturally mummified remains of two Indigenous people buried in northern Chile, according to an analysis republished by AllAfrica from The Conversation Africa. The material is described as damaged genetic fragments, not intact virus, and the remains are dated to roughly 1492 to 1631, a period spanning the shift from Inca rule to Spanish colonial control.

The study is significant because it provides the first ancient smallpox genomes recovered from the Americas. By comparing the Chilean sequences with earlier European and later variola genomes, scientists found that the viruses belonged to an extinct lineage and that their relationships support the view that smallpox arrived in the Americas after European contact. The findings add direct molecular evidence to long-standing historical accounts of epidemic disease following colonisation, though the study cannot show who introduced the virus or how it spread in this community.

The article also addresses whether recovered DNA could allow smallpox to return. It says no physical virus was created and that the sequenced fragments cannot on their own cause infection. The genomes instead help researchers study how variola evolved into a human-only pathogen and how its genetic changes may have shifted over time. The piece notes that this work builds on broader scientific efforts to understand the history of eradicated diseases, while smallpox remains officially retained only in two high-security WHO-designated laboratories for approved research.