We know that europeans brought diseases to the Americas but are there diseases that came from the Americas?

Question

...originally?

Answer 1

The jury is still out if syphillis jumped to Europe from the New World. From Wikipedia:

"There are two thoughts on the origin of syphilis: the Columbian and pre-Columbian theories. There are ongoing debates in anthropological and historical fields about the validity of either theory.

The pre-Columbian theory holds that syphilis symptoms are described by Hippocrates in Classical Greece in its venereal/tertiary form. Some passages in the Bible could refer to syphilis, especially Exodus 20:5 where the sins of the father are visited unto the third and fourth generation. There are other suspected syphilis findings for pre-contact Europe, including at a 13-14th century Augustinian friary in the northeastern English port of Kingston upon Hull. The anthropological evidence is contested by those who follow the Columbian theory.

The Columbian Exchange theory holds that syphilis was a New World disease brought back by Columbus. The first well-recorded outbreak of what we know as syphilis occurred in Naples in 1494. There is some documentary evidence to link Columbus's crew to the outbreak. Supporters of the Columbian theory find syphilis lesions on pre-contact Native Americans. Again, all the anthropological evidence is heatedly discussed on both sides of the Columbian/pre-Columbian debate. (Baker, et al.)

Alfred Crosby has argued that neither side has the full story. Syphilis is a form of Yaws, similar to tuberculosis which has existed in the Old World since time immemorial. Crosby argues that syphilis is a specific form of Yaws that had evolved in the New World and was brought back to the old, "the differing ecological conditions produced different types of treponematosis and, in time, closely related but different diseases". (ref:225 Crosby)

The epidemiology of the first syphilis epidemic indicates that the disease was either new or a mutated form of an earlier disease. The disease swept across Europe from its early epicenter at Naples. As Jared Diamond describes it, "when syphilis was first definitely recorded in Europe in 1495, its pustules often covered the body from the head to the knees, caused flesh to fall people's faces, and led to death within a few months." In addition, the disease was more frequently fatal than it is today. Diamond concludes that "by 1546, the disease had evolved into the disease with the symptoms so well known to us today."[1]"

So, in short, maybe syphillis.

Answer 2

Syphilis most certainly did not originate in the Americas.

But the reason most of the more harmful diseases originated in Europe was its crowded, dirty cities. Diseases thrive in places were people live in close proximity to each other and have poor waste disposal, dirty water, and pests (especially rats, as in the case of the bubonic plague). Also, people living crammed together and who were thus in constant contact with a variety of other people's germs developed stronger immunities quickly.

I would guess that more diseases originated in South America than North simply because of the climate. I'm sure South America and the Caribbean Islands, just like India and Africa, suffered from malaria and other insect-borne illnesses. Settlers in America often suffered from cholera (a water-borne illness, though I doubt 'indigenous' to America) and ... there were others. The diseases of the game "Oregon Trail," for example.
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Hmm. I got one. Rocky Mountain spotted fever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_mountain_spotted_fever

Arguably tularemia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia

Arguably Lyme disease:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease

But these are all fairly recent diseases, none that we would have "spread" to Europe (because we're not colonizing Europe) like Europeans spread their diseases to the American continent.

Answer 3

I've always heard that Syphlis and ghonnorhea were diseases passed from the Aztecs and other natives tio the Spanish conquistadores.

Paintings of Cortes often show him as greenish and sickly. Partly due to the natives hatred of the man, but possibly also becuase of an illness he may have contracted from an Aztec concubine.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, yes. There are several very recent ones, pax Americana, Hypocrisy Americana, ....

Answer 5

Syphilis supposedly came from here.

Answer 6

yes