USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Along with measles, influenza, chickenpox, bubonic plague, typhus, scarlet fever, pneumonia and malaria, smallpox spelled disaster for Native Americans, who lacked immunity to such diseases.

Detailed explanation-2: -Smallpox is believed to have arrived in the Americas in 1520 on a Spanish ship sailing from Cuba, carried by an infected African slave. As soon as the party landed in Mexico, the infection began its deadly voyage through the continent.

Detailed explanation-3: -Europeans had spent more time living in close proximity to one another and with animals. This meant that had been more opportunities for diseases to evolve in European society than in the Americas, hence the assymetry.

Detailed explanation-4: -Europeans carried a hidden enemy to the Indians: new diseases. Native peoples of America had no immunity to the diseases that European explorers and colonists brought with them. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, and even chicken pox proved deadly to American Indians.