[blam]

GGG Ping.

[massgopguy]

“Bring out your dead!”

[Mamzelle]

It’d also be interesting to check out the same with cholera outbreaks.

[tarheelswamprat]

They need to worry about the coming “Green Death”...

[blam]

Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)

"The epidemic of cocoliztli from1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population of Mexico (Figure 1). In absolute and relative terms the 1545 epidemic was one of the worst demographic catastrophes in human history, approaching even the Black Death of bubonic plague, which killed approximately 25 million in western Europe from 1347 to 1351 or about 50% of the regional population."

"The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 cocoliztli epidemic killed an additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

PING

[ari-freedom]

“Throughout the recent past, there have been movements from the Middle East into southern Europe, and the Middle East population retains a great mix and diversity,” he says.

you know what this means. “ok folks we have to keep letting them in. Don’t want black death, you see?”

[jeddavis]

Lucky they didn’t have Rachel Carson walking around in 1340 to outlaw rat traps....

[GiovannaNicoletta]

How interesting!!

Thanks for posting!

[Mercat]

Good read on this era is A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman.

[dynachrome]

I’m thinking that the slaughter of young men in WWI would not have helped. On the other hand, maybe the influx of American GIs in WWII helped the diversity of the gene pool. :)

[Dick Vomer]

I’d of thought it had to do with WW I and the loss of a great percentage of men of marrying age at the time.

[mutley]

Maybe this explains England’s suicidal approach to islamic whacko immigrants, and socialist decay.

[Peanut Gallery]

well, I think it’s only common sense that the Black Death resulted in less diversified mtDNA. If they looked also at the yDNA I think they may find a similar pattern.

As for how it began? Who knows, all I remember is that it was spread by the rat population, and it wasn’t picky about who got sick.

[The Lumster]

Does this explain the national dental problem?

[sodpoodle]

Smart little buggars - those microbes - they actually evolve!!! http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-0979.htm The "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, which caused ≈50 million deaths worldwide, remains an ominous warning to public health. Many questions about its origins, its unusual epidemiologic features, and the basis of its pathogenicity remain unanswered. The public health implications of the pandemic therefore remain in doubt even as we now grapple with the feared emergence of a pandemic caused by H5N1 or other virus. However, new information about the 1918 virus is emerging, for example, sequencing of the entire genome from archival autopsy tissues. But, the viral genome alone is unlikely to provide answers to some critical questions. Understanding the 1918 pandemic and its implications for future pandemics requires careful experimentation and in-depth historical analysis.

[wildbill]

I remember reading that some villages/areas in Europe were free or relatively free of the plague.

It was speculated that some immunization gene within the rather inbred communities might have protectd them.

[Bon mots]

bookmark!

[MrsEmmaPeel]

If the Middle Ages actually tolerated the cat, then there would have been no rats and no plague.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

So the bad teeth is the result of bacteria carried by fleas on RATS? Who’da thunk?