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Medieval DNA, Modern Medicine (Lessons From The Black Death)
Archaeology Magazine ^ | 11/12-2007 | Heather Pringle

Posted on 10/16/2007 12:58:12 PM PDT by blam

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1 posted on 10/16/2007 12:58:15 PM PDT by blam
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To: SunkenCiv
GGG Ping.
2 posted on 10/16/2007 12:59:17 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: blam
There are several "plagues" that seem to share in an inability to penetrate this particular genetic resistance.

Cholera is one.

More than likely the resistance developed during a period when a Founder Population lived in a rodent infested region ~ probably the Arctic ~ they would have made their way South over thousands of years, gradually blending into the local population.

3 posted on 10/16/2007 1:21:42 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: blam

I’ve been looking at having a mitochondrial or Y-line DNA sequencing done for genealogy purposes. There seem to be quite a few labs out there but the price for a comprehensive analysis is a bit steep for me (US$250-$400). I’m sure there’s a university somewhere that’ll do it for much less money.


4 posted on 10/16/2007 1:31:05 PM PDT by james500
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To: blam

bump for later read


5 posted on 10/16/2007 1:33:38 PM PDT by skepsel
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To: blam

Is this the same thing as Triple Delta 32?? There was a documentary about a hemophiliac that had been given HIV pos blood and did not contract the disease. They figured out he was a person with this special allele.

This is my untrained opinion. The population about 8,000 years ago was mostly O blood, but O’s are succeptible to lots of those old time diseases and were eliminated from the reproductive pool and replaced by those with A or B blood. A’s are succeptible to cancer, but usually reproduced before the cancer got them. B’s not quite so succeptible.

I’m ready D’Adamo’s blood type and an particularily interested in secretor vs. non-secretor resistance to disease.

I wonder if they can tell blood type from the DNA they recovered.


6 posted on 10/16/2007 1:35:58 PM PDT by Battle Axe (Repent for the coming of the Lord is nigh!)
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To: Battle Axe; blam

Does one blood type get sicker than another, or is one type more apt to become sick?

 

http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fimmunology%2Fans_034.html

 

Provided by Matthew McCarthy, HHMI medical fellow, Harvard Medical School, Boston

The sorting of blood according to certain cell-surface characteristics has helped scientists understand why in some cases a blood transfusion may save a life and in others it may cause death. The first blood group to be characterized was the ABO group in 1900, and this classification system remains one of the most medically relevant.

People are divided into one of four categories: A, B, AB, and O, depending on the structure of a particular sugar molecule on the surface of their red blood cells. This sugar is referred to as an antigen. People with type A blood have the A antigen, while people with type B blood have the B surface antigen. Those with type AB make both antigens, and type O people produce neither antigen. Someone with type A blood will reject type B blood via antibodies that recognize and destroy blood cells that have antigens of a different group.

Blood types are genetically inherited, but the environment can influence which blood types will be passed on. An example is seen with the Black Plague, which killed millions of people in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. The disease was caused by a bacterium that resembled type B blood and used this quality to evade destruction by the human immune system. As a result, people with type B blood died in far greater numbers than those of other blood types. By the 15th century, fatalities from the plague had decreased significantly as type B blood was systematically phased out in that part of the world.

Although certain blood types increase susceptibility to disease, others confer resistance, as seen with the sickle-cell mutation. Certain people have a type of blood that appears deflated and shaped like a sickle. People in this group are predisposed to sickle-cell anemia. At first glance, one might wonder why evolution has allowed for this blood type to be passed down through the generations if it can cause disease. The answer is that the deflated, sickle-shaped blood cells are actually protective against malaria. And the very people who possess this type of blood have ancestors who used to live in places where malaria was a major cause of death, such as central Africa.

More recently, scientists have noted that people with type O blood are more susceptible to the Norwalk virus, which causes diarrhea, and to Helicobacter pylori infection, which can cause ulcers. This finding has led scientists to ask, Why does type O blood continue to be passed from one generation to the next if it increases the risk of infection and disease?

Using the model of sickle-cell anemia, researchers hypothesized that type O blood could increase the risk to one infection (Norwalk virus) while conferring resistance to a more serious infection. In March 2005, a group in Hong Kong confirmed this hypothesis, showing that people with type O blood have a decreased risk of contracting SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), a deadly disease that afflicted people in Asia, Canada, and the United States during an outbreak in 2002–2003.

Recent research has shown that people with type A blood have an increased risk of cancer of the esophagus, stomach, and pancreas. As you learn more about blood types and their role in disease, a great question to think about is, Why would evolution ever allow us to pass down blood types that increase our risk for cancer?

As you can see, a particular blood type may predispose you to one disease while simultaneously protecting you against another.

References

Cheng, Y., Cheng, G., Chui, C.H., Lau, F.Y., Chan, P.K., Ng, M.H., Sung, J.J., and Wong, R.S. ABO blood group and susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome. JAMA 293 (12): 1450–51, 2005.

Hutson, A.M., Atmar, R.L., Graham, D.Y., and Estes, M.K. Norwalk virus infection and disease is associated with ABO histo-blood group type. Journal of Infectious Diseases 185 (9): 1335–37, 2002.

Williams, T.N., Mwangi, T.W., Wambua, S., Alexander, N.D., Kortok, M., Snow, R.W., and Marsh, K. Sickle cell trait and the risk of Plasmodium falciparum malaria and other childhood diseases. Journal of Infectious Diseases 192 (1): 178–86, 2005.

   

7 posted on 10/16/2007 1:58:15 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: Battle Axe
England is 1/2 A and 1/2 O, Scotland and Ireland are majority 0. What was the death toll during the plague among the various blood types?
8 posted on 10/16/2007 2:14:42 PM PDT by Little Bill (Welcome to the Newly Socialist State of New Hampshire)
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To: Little Bill
"England is 1/2 A and 1/2 O, Scotland and Ireland are majority 0. What was the death toll during the plague among the various blood types?"

The people living behind Offa's Dyke have the highest concentration of 'O' type blood in the world.

9 posted on 10/16/2007 2:30:24 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: blam

Gloustershire, well to the East of Offa’s Dike, is my families stomping ground. I can see what you are saying, frogs or not, had a passing influence on the Cotswalds.


10 posted on 10/16/2007 2:45:54 PM PDT by Little Bill (Welcome to the Newly Socialist State of New Hampshire)
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To: muawiyah
"More than likely the resistance developed during a period when a Founder Population lived in a rodent infested region ~ probably the Arctic ~ they would have made their way South over thousands of years, gradually blending into the local population."

This article is a condensed version from the one in Archaeology Magazine. In the magazine version, it has this to say:

Most researchers now believe that the Black Death was the bubonic plague. Caused by the bacterium Yessinia pestis, it spread from rats to humans, usually by means of an infected flea.
But historical records show that the Black Death occurred in areas such as Iceland, where there were no rats. As a result, historian Susan Scott and Liverpool zoologist Chris Duncan suggest that Black Death was a viral hemorrhagic fever, akin to the Ebola Virus.
No one, however ,debates its lethal effect. In just three years, the Black Death swept across Europe, as far north as the Arctic Circle, claiming the lives of 40 percent of its inhabitants. And over the next three centuries, it struck repeatedly on the continent, filling graveyards whenever it appeared."

11 posted on 10/16/2007 2:46:02 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: Little Bill

If cold weather increases the risk of crampt conditions that spread the Black Death, then type O must therefore give more resistance.


12 posted on 10/16/2007 2:52:25 PM PDT by tbw2 (Science fiction with real science - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: blam
Blam, Barbara Tuchman reported that the virulence of the Black Death declined as it moved North, and by the time it got to the Arctic the death rate was less than 10%.

Guess who lives in the Arctic where the only animals other than wolves, bear and reindeer are rodents. Well, I guess you don't need to guess eh!.

13 posted on 10/16/2007 2:57:17 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah; Pharmboy
"Well, I guess you don't need to guess eh!."

Ahem, some of our people, the Sa'ami.

I've announced before that my yDNA is R1b and that I'm Irish.
Well...as it turns out with further investigation, I have a DYS-390-23 which is Scandanavian - German. The people with a DYS-390-24 are the Irish.

My heritage just moved further north.

The British who have DYS-390-23, came in with one of these invaders, Danes-Saxons-Vikings. So....

14 posted on 10/16/2007 3:08:36 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: Little Bill
http://www.dadamo.com/napharm/store3/template2/secretor.htm

An interesting read. Being a secretor or a non-secretor is just one of the name components of blood.

Will we get to a point where we can test a baby’s blood and determine how long he (she) will live and what they will die from?

15 posted on 10/16/2007 4:05:58 PM PDT by Battle Axe (Repent for the coming of the Lord is nigh!)
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To: muawiyah
Barbara Tuchman reported that the virulence of the Black Death declined as it moved North, and by the time it got to the Arctic the death rate was less than 10%.

Virulence as a measure of deaths, or deaths of infected persons?

16 posted on 10/16/2007 4:09:02 PM PDT by Battle Axe (Repent for the coming of the Lord is nigh!)
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To: blam
Well, friend, I guess we part company there. I am a DYS390-24 making my origins a bit Irish (Y-chromosome-wise, anyway). The articles also say that DYS392-14 is particularly Irish...another one that I have.

What's your 392?

17 posted on 10/16/2007 4:09:30 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they have to)
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To: james500

Try ancestry.com The prices seem to be a little better. The wife and I are considering it...we are big time into genealogy.


18 posted on 10/16/2007 4:11:08 PM PDT by bricklayer
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To: bricklayer

I think I’m going to end up going with ancestry.com.

...and speaking of ancestry:

Obama and VP Cheney are distant cousins
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912137/posts


19 posted on 10/16/2007 4:26:25 PM PDT by james500
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To: Pharmboy
I thought your “haplogroup” was more indicative of what your ancestry is? I have a DYS390-24 yet I’m a J2 which is supposed to be from the Baltic area via the middle east.
20 posted on 10/16/2007 4:34:34 PM PDT by WackySam
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