Using Bioarchaeological Data to Inform Diagnostic Criteria
From The Observatory
Date
October 24, 2025
Location
Boulder, CO
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Molly Zuckerman - Using Bioarchaeological Data to Inform Diagnostic Criteria for Acquired Syphilis in Clinical Care and Public Health Screening
Due to a diverse set of limitations, less is known about how syphilis infection progresses within humans than most other common infectious diseases. One of the most clinically and epidemiologically important yet poorly understood issues that surround syphilis’ outcomes: which human host characteristics are associated with resolved early-stage infection, and which are associated with persistent infection, which involves substantial morbidity, mortality, and continued transmission (e.g., congenital syphilis)?
To circumvent these limitations, we ask this question of data on host characteristics (e.g., chronic stress, co-infection) from human skeletal individuals representing patients with antemortem diagnoses of syphilis in 19th to early-20th US museum collections. By employing methods from public health and clinical medicine, which enable empirical translation of our findings into public health and medical indices, and collaborating with translational science experts, our aim is to translate our bioarchaeological findings into refined guidelines for screening and diagnosis of syphilis cases.Key Speaker: Molly Zuckerman
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University of Colorado Boulder Department of Anthropology
Organizer, Host | Homepage
Anthropology is the study of humans and our biological relatives across time and space. It is the only field to address the diversity of the human experience in its biological, cultural, and historical contexts. The discipline necessarily incorporates a wide range of theoretical and methodological traditions, drawing on and contributing to approaches in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. It is the breadth of our vision of what it means to be human, as well as the breadth of our theoretical and methodological approaches, that constitute our unique mission and role within the university. We feel it is of crucial importance to communicate this broad vision of diversity and complexity to students so that they come to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.
