Volume 8, Number 4, April 2002

Historical Review

Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico

Rodolfo Acuna-Soto,* David W. Stahle, † Malcolm K. Cleaveland,† and Matthew D. Therrell†
*Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico and †University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

Figure 3. The winter-spring precipitation totals estimated for each year in Durango, 1540–1548 (top), 1571–1579 (middle), compared with the Palmer drought index, southwestern USA 1988–1995 (bottom). A tenfold increase in deer mice was witnessed in the southwestern USA during the 1993 outbreak, a year of abundant precipitation following a prolonged drought. The similar dry-wet pattern reconstructed for the 1545 epidemic of cocoliztli may have impacted the population dynamics of the suspected rodent host to aggravate the epidemic.

EID Home | Top of Page | Ahead-of-Print | Past Issues | Suggested Citation | EID Search | Contact Us | Accessibility | Privacy Policy Notice | CDC Home | CDC Search | Health Topics A-Z

This page last reviewed June 21, 2002

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention