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Clues to Black Plague’s Fury in 650-Year-Old Skeletons
NY Times ^
| January 29, 2008
| NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Posted on 01/28/2008 10:00:36 PM PST by forkinsocket
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To: forkinsocket
To: forkinsocket
Their findings, published on Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the plague selectively took the already ill, I recall reading in school that this plague killed half the people in England, so it seems unlikely that all of these people (IIRC 4 million of them) were already ill.
To: Lijahsbubbe
Six anorexic models lounging in the sun?
To: forkinsocket
Note to self: Get buried in a nice secret location with a lot of rickey terrain so I’m not dug up 600+ years later.
5
posted on
01/28/2008 10:10:08 PM PST
by
Centurion2000
(It's only arrogance if you can't back it up.)
To: wideminded
The average around Europe was about one-third dead, with some place essentially depopulated. Prior to modern antibiotics, pesticides, and antiparasitics (mostly tapeworm), I wouldn’t be surprised at all if half the population had some kind of chronic infection or infestation. That doesn’t even include diseases cause by dietary deficiencies such as vit.C or iodine.
6
posted on
01/28/2008 10:18:10 PM PST
by
VanShuyten
("Ah! but it was something to have at least a choice of nightmares.")
To: forkinsocket
Well, the grand conclusion was that the Plague killed off unhealthy people more than healthy ones. That isn't exactly controversial. The interesting thing about Yersinia pestis is that it multiplies with fantastic rapidity in the body and simply overwhelms the immune system. It does that in fleas as well - the reason they bite humans is that the organism multiplies so rapidly it physically blocks their proboscises. The little buggers bite humans where they wouldn't normally because they're starving to death. Incredible.
To: VanShuyten
A lack of sanitary plumbing, the habit of digging wells next to cesspools, living in cramped quarters in crowded cities, and a lack of understanding the necessity of hygiene caused a large part of the population to be “under the weather” a good part of the time.
Alton Brown - “Good Eats” episode on water
To: SunkenCiv
9
posted on
01/28/2008 10:29:05 PM PST
by
JennysCool
(They all say they want change, but they’re really after folding money.)
To: Billthedrill
Well, the grand conclusion was that the Plague killed off unhealthy people more than healthy ones. This is why I'm not a research scientist: I never would have been able to figure out that one. Honestly, the reason I think two-thirds of the population were spared is that plague isn't really easy to catch. For the most part, you've got to either get bitten by an infected flea, or inhale droplets from the coughing or sneezing of someone who happens to be suffering from the pneumonic variety of plague. Once you've got it, healthy or not, you're probably going to die unless, as in this day and age, you immediately get medical attention and start antibiotic treatment. I've read a modern case history of a perfectly young and healthy individual catching the disease (via flea bite), showing up in the emergency room and being treated for flu. A day or so later, after the buboes were obvious, it was too late to do anything for him.
10
posted on
01/28/2008 10:48:00 PM PST
by
Mr Ramsbotham
(Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
To: Billthedrill
fleas have rights too!
can't we all just get along? ;)
11
posted on
01/28/2008 11:30:55 PM PST
by
robomatik
(......uh since fred and duncan are out, i think i need a new tagline. =()
To: forkinsocket
Just prior to this,early 1300’s, England was having a big problem with stray cats, so it got all the people to kill the cats. No more cats. The rats then became the problem and with them the flees. Also the old nursery song “Ring around the rosie” came from the black death.
12
posted on
01/28/2008 11:59:44 PM PST
by
Peacekeeper357
(God provided food for every bird but he didn't put it in their nest.)
To: forkinsocket
Sexually transmitted infections like H.I.V. disproportionately affect the strongest and healthiest, for the obvious reason that they are the most sexually active. oh, that's the at-risk group.
13
posted on
01/29/2008 1:56:36 AM PST
by
gusopol3
To: forkinsocket
14
posted on
01/29/2008 1:57:17 AM PST
by
neverdem
(I have to hope for a brokered GOP Convention. It can't get any worse.)
To: SunkenCiv
15
posted on
01/29/2008 1:59:27 AM PST
by
kalee
(The offenses we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we write in marble. JHuett)
To: forkinsocket
This is a very interesting book..
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
16
posted on
01/29/2008 3:08:34 AM PST
by
wafflehouse
(When in danger, When in doubt, Run in circles, Scream and Shout!)
To: forkinsocket
a pattern of excess mortality was associated with different kinds of lesions suggests that the plague more often killed the weak than the strongLike, duh. Did they consider the population of neighborhood could have been made up of poor elderly people living in close proximity to each other? As for their take on AIDS, it's not that the more healthy are being infected but the lack of morals.
17
posted on
01/29/2008 4:43:44 AM PST
by
mtbopfuyn
(I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
Comment #18 Removed by Moderator
To: wafflehouse
Yes, it is! Worthwhile reading indeed.
19
posted on
01/29/2008 9:23:00 AM PST
by
TruthConquers
(Delendae sunt publici scholae)
To: JennysCool; kalee; martin_fierro; Coleus; blam; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
20
posted on
01/29/2008 10:14:18 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__________________Profile updated Wednesday, January 16, 2008)
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