Scientists find possible cause for mystery epidemic that wiped out Mexico 500 years ago
by from on (#3DEAK)
From 1545 to 1548, a mysterious disease killed about 80 per cent of the population of Mexico. It was one of the worst epidemics in human history, felling an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, and was known by natives as cocoliztli - a word meaning pestilence.