"According to the hypothesis, infected ship rats landed in the New World and excreted leptospira, infecting raccoons, mink, and muskrats whose urine further contaminated any standing fresh water. It is unclear why this particular infectious disease should afflict Native Americans and not subsequent European colonists. Prior exposure does not necessarily result in immunity because there are a number of different infectious strains."
Madeleine Johnson in Slate looks into why in New England "as many as nine out of 10 coastal Indians were killed in the epidemic between 1616 and 1619."
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