It's possible that syphilis was brought back to Europe from the New World by the Spanish. That hasn't been proven though. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi

It's possible that syphilis was brought back to Europe from the New World by the Spanish. That hasn't been proven though. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis : The first recorded outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion ...