Colonists brought many diseases to the Americas that killed a lot of indigenous people. But did they encounter any diseases they'd never seen before?

by [deleted]

So I know that European colonizers brought diseases like smallpox and cholera to the Americas, and that these diseases killed a lot of native people because they'd never been exposed to them before. But did that ever work the other way around (where natives had immunity to a disease that the colonizers didn't, and contact made the colonizers sick)? If not, how come Europe had so many contagious diseases while the Americas didn't?

Thank you!

jschooltiger

Yes, there were diseases native to the Americas that affected European colonizers. Here's our FAQ section about it.