Cortes returns from his disatrous campaign coughing blood!

What would happen if during the exploration of the Americas the Europeans contracted a native disease as bad as smallpox for the Native Indians.
Just say Cortes comes back from Mexico to Spain his army desimated by a weird and leathal disease. Then it starts to spread around Europe
What would happen to colinisation of the Americas and therefore England, France, Spain and Portugal??
 
Any smallpox -like illness for which Europeans had no immunity would presumably strike the Spaniards fairly quickly, and have a short incubation period, so it would likely cripple Cortes's army even before it reaches Tenochtitlan. Still, perhaps it could be something like TB that comes on more slowly. But even then, it would affect them long before they left Mexico. Hopefully, Cortes is smart enough and considerate enough to not go back to Spain or even Cuba and risk spreading the disease. But maybe he doesn't care and goes anyway.
 
Would he have known the consequences of taking disease back to Europe? Even if he did he wasn't exactly a model of humanitarianism.
 
Would he have known the consequences of taking disease back to Europe? Even if he did he wasn't exactly a model of humanitarianism.

I don't think he knew much about how disease was spread. Remember, at this time, the idea was that disease was caused by unbalanced humors in the pancreas or some other BS. The use of smallpox-infected blankets as biological weapons doesn't start for some time at this point. I don't believe Cortes has any idea that going to Cuba or Spain will spread the disease. He will probably beg to go back there so that he can get a Christian burial and get to heaven.
 
I don't think he knew much about how disease was spread. Remember, at this time, the idea was that disease was caused by unbalanced humors in the pancreas or some other BS. The use of smallpox-infected blankets as biological weapons doesn't start for some time at this point. I don't believe Cortes has any idea that going to Cuba or Spain will spread the disease. He will probably beg to go back there so that he can get a Christian burial and get to heaven.

The principle of contagion was understood (though not accommodated in theory) since at least the second plague pandemic. If any doctors advise the West Indian authorities, infected troops will be quarantined.

Of course that will only delay the inevitable. If the disease has a short incubation period, it is possible that it won't make the ocean jump. The American settlements are likely to become a one-way destination then, though. If it makes it across - well, it would depend on how bad it really gets. If we are looking at a doomsday scenario like the variety of virgin-soil epidemics that tore through the Americas, we can probably say goodbye to Europe. And Asia and Africa, eventually. No society can survive being permanently reduced to 10% of its previous population and prevented from congregating in urban areas. If it is just one pandemic, even a highly lethal one, it will not do much in the long run. Of course the 1520s are kind of a good time for long-term repercussions even to relatively short-term impacts.
 
Hunta virus is a good candidate for an American plague crossing the Atlantic, new research indicates that it was primarily responsible for wiping out the Aztecs. And all you need for it too spread across the Atlantic is have a healthy carrier for the virus.
 
Hunta virus is a good candidate for an American plague crossing the Atlantic, new research indicates that it was primarily responsible for wiping out the Aztecs. And all you need for it too spread across the Atlantic is have a healthy carrier for the virus.

Hantavirus already had several strains in northern Europe as well as in southern Spain. So, while deadly, europeans would have some immunity.
 
What would happen if during the exploration of the Americas the Europeans contracted a native disease as bad as smallpox for the Native Indians.
Just say Cortes comes back from Mexico to Spain his army desimated by a weird and leathal disease. Then it starts to spread around Europe
What would happen to colinisation of the Americas and therefore England, France, Spain and Portugal??

One of the best TLs on the AH Wikia is based on that exact premise - Papatlaca (http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Papatlaca) - from the Nahuatl for "shiver". Unfortunately the author seems to have quit around 1600. But what's been written is excellent: the fictional virus is given symptoms; technical info on aspects like incubation, transmission, and fatality rate; there is a page on attempted means of treatment; maps of the spread... a very thorough job.

The author has a few details to iron out - Spanish Jews are mistakenly described as Yiddish speaking, for example; and the flag for 16th century Hispaniola is as anachronistic as they come. But it's a pretty good story about the aftermath of an epidemic like the one you describe.
 
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