I see no
> reason to imagine that paleo peoples were free of disease.

If we look at Northern Australian Aboriginal populations they seem to have
suffered from Yaws pre-contact. Yaws is a chronic infection caused by the
bacteria Treponema pallidum,
subspecies pertenue, which primarily affects the skin, bones, and joints.
The healthiest Aborigines appear to have been the desert groups (low
population density) and the central murray Aborigines were least healthy
(high population density) at least in terms of nutritional stresses that
show up in bones (Cribra orbitalia, dental enamel hypoplasia [DEH] and
Harris lines).

I think we have to get beyond "noble savage" concepts and realise that these
were people like us and although they in many cases very healthy and lacking
in many of our modern lifestyle diseases they still got sick and were
sometimes victims of infectious diseases (like yaws).

Cheers

Sean