Black Death Mutant Gene Resists AIDS, Say Scientists (Virus)

Cheshire Online ^ | 1-4-2005 | Alan Weston

[blam]

Black Death mutant gene resists Aids, say scientists

Jan 4 2005

By Alan Weston, Daily Post

IT HAS been described as the 'world's greatest serial killer'.

The Black Death was a catastrophe which wiped out nearly half the European population, with 20m people dying between 1348 and 1350.

But new research being carried out by a team from Liverpool University has shown that the disease may have produced an unexpected side-effect - resistance to the deadly HIV/Aids virus.

Professor Christopher Duncan and Dr Susan Scott have already caused shockwaves among historians with their claim that the Black Death was caused by a life-threatening virus, which has been lying dormant and could re-appear at any time.

The traditional view, still accepted by the majority of historians, is that the killer disease was a form of bubonic plague which was spread by fleas jumping from infected rats to humans.

Now the latest research by Prof Duncan and Dr Scott, from the university's School of Biological Sciences, has revealed that those who survived the Black Death may have inherited a mutant gene.

This gave their descendants, many generations later, increased resistance to the HIV virus.

Such a theory helps to explain, they say, why Aids has not taken hold in Europe to the same extent as it has in sub-Saharan Africa, which suffered from a different form of plague than that which ravaged the British Isles and the rest of continental Europe for three centuries.

Prof Duncan said: "We know that 10pc of the European population are genetically resistant to HIV. They do not catch the disease even after continued exposure, and it is only in Europe that this genetic mutation can be found.

"We believe it was the Black Death which caused this mutation, as people gradually formed an in-built resistance to the disease.

"As there was no Black Death in Africa, there was no resistance to the HIV infection.

"The lucky people who are resistant to HIV have benefited because their ancestors were resistant to Black Death, and they bore children who also carried the mutant gene."

Much of Prof Duncan and Dr Scott's researches have been carried out in the Peak District village of Eyam, one of the last English villages to be infected by an outbreak of the plague in 1665-66, where they have studied original parish records, wills and diaries to create a profile of the disease.

They claim the disease could not have been spread by the fleas on rats as the rodents could not have travelled far or quickly enough.

Instead, it was an infectious disease passed from person to person. If a similar kind of virus was to emerge in today's globalised society, the fatal illness would be spread quickly around the world.

The Liverpool research team say their revolutionary theory as to what caused the Black Death and made it spread like wildfire across Europe is gaining growing acceptance.

The scientists are due to present the latest findings of their research into the Aids-Black Death link in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

alanweston@dailypost.co.uk

[Doctor Stochastic]

I think there was a case of some kid in the midwest who survived rabies about 30 years ago. He was bitten by a bat and did take the shots. He still got rabies but survived on a respirator and heroic life-support.

Rabies is still the most deadly virus though. Ebola and HIV and machupo (and hanta, etc.) aren't as deadly. Rabies has had an upsurge due to hunters moving wild animals from one part of the country to another (to increase herd sizes, although "herd" may not be the best term for raccoons.)

I propose a "masque of raccoons" to go along with "murder of crows" and "flourish of strumpets" etc.

[djf]

I imagine a person could survive rabies if their immune system was ramped up from something else, say, if they had the flu or chick pox.

But I'll pass on being a test subject.

[Docbarleypop]

then i accept your appologies. just kidding, my uncle just found some ugly news while researching our geneology, looks like some of my scottish relatives went south for the winter and brought back some english blood with them!!

[Safetgiver]

when a series of barbarian peoples invaded the Mediterranean world .... And who WERE these barbarians, exactly, hmmmm? Maybe, Ohhhhh, maybe...MOE-HAM-HEADS? (Best Church Lady imitation)

[SedVictaCatoni]

when a series of barbarian peoples invaded the Mediterranean world .... And who WERE these barbarians, exactly, hmmmm? Maybe, Ohhhhh, maybe...MOE-HAM-HEADS? (Best Church Lady imitation)

Um... most of them invaded the Mediterranean world before the birth of Mohammed. They were generally various German and Scandinavian tribes, such as the Franks, Marcomanni, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Visigoths, etc. Many of these, such as the Goths, were Christian, of what is now considered the Arian or Semi-Arian heresies.

[Safetgiver]

I know this, but MOE-HAM-HEADS sounds better for Church Lady than Marcomanni.

[SunkenCiv]

It's not my spelling, it was a quote from that webpage.

[shubi]

Hmmm, what is the website trying to sell?

This makes me more supicious.

[shubi]

suspicious

[curmudgeonII]

I would very seriously question any article which claims that the bacterially caused black death is caused by a virus. Even an elementary course in bacteriology/microbiology ought to disprove this.

[shubi]

Yep, that about sinks that. It IS a bacteria.

[Gondring]

The article doesn't make that claim.

[Gondring]

Perhaps behavioral differences between the two populatons (English and African) would also account for the diffence in HIV infecton rates.

Well, there seems to be more evidence for your point here: Key genetic factor in determining AIDS risk identified (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316115/posts)

Note that "When the tests involved different population groups, the results revealed that persons of African-American origin had four copies of the CCL3L1 gene, whereas persons of European-American stock and Hispanic-Americans had two and three respectively."

[SunkenCiv]

GENOME
the autobiography of
a species in 23 chapters
by Matt Ridley
(from chap 9)

The different kind blood group you have determines your susceptibility to certain diseases. For example, people with A blood are less likely to get diarrhoea than people with B blood. People with O blood are more susceptible to getting diarrhoea than anybody else. People with AB blood are virtually immune to diarrhoea because of their resistance. Nobody really yet knows how AB genotype protects them from this disease. "Since people with the O blood are the most susceptible to the disease, shouldn't they die out according to natural selection?' you are probably asking. That is true but there are a couple of things that keep the O group alive and one of them is malaria. People with O blood are more resistant to malaria than other groups. Another thing is that the O group is less likely to get certain cancers. These benefits cancel out the negative effect that the O blood group has on the diarrhoea disease so, this balance has kept the group from disappearing.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 01/04/2005, thanks again blam.

• UK 'plague village' offers lesson for a country under lockdown [03/24/2020]
• Immunity to COVID-19: Spike Protein Docking Site Is Achilles’ Heel of the Coronavirus [9/16/2021]

[Red Badger]

Black Death Mutant Gene............... Good name for a Heavy Metal band.............

[madison10]

Bet I am also resistant to the current “plague.” So no jab for moi. 😝

[Trillian]

Aids is a homosexual disease. Most people are not even exposed to it.

[blam]

"Aids is a homosexual disease. Most people are not even exposed to it."

I knew that when I posted this article 16 years ago.