Medieval Plague May Explain Resistance to HIV

Yahoo! News (Reuters) ^ | 3/10/2005 | n/a

[Lazamataz]

The first way is by directly inducing extra mutations. Strap a couple of bricks of uranium to your nuts and you'll see what I mean.

What, more?

I can scarcely walk from all the uranium in my pants as it is.

[lizma]

They must have felt imortal.

So Typhoid Mary was a party girl?

I have a feeling that they just thought God had answered their prayers. At least for the current go around.

[lizma]

Tay-Sachs (resistance to tuberculosis)

Interesting. Didn't know that.

Did some googling and found that Cystic fibrosis heterozygotes are resistant to cholera toxin.

[Boardwalk]

According to reading I have done on the subject, there were quite a few immune wanton party people, participating in wild orgies, and the whole nine yards.

[Docbarleypop]

let me get this straight, so if a fruit fly has white eyes and mates with one that has red eyes, then the ebony body with wild wings, ouch!!! already got a head ache!!!!

[meatloaf]

I hadn't heard about cholera and cystic fibrosis. Thanks!

[twigs]

I saw it; it was excellent. NOVA aired it, didn't they?

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

I have avoided using the word 'frequency' in my comments on this thread. I also think that it might be a case of the immune systems generally being weakened in those who succombed to the plague, and this is not necessarily genetics at play. There also are those with stronger immune systems who survived the plague, perhaps being exposed to the virus without becoming ill. We know this happens with many diseases today, and it is not necessarily conditional on 'vaccination'. Is this genetics?

If it is genetics, I might suggest that a strong immune system was the 'original' condition in humans, and that the weakened immune system is the 'mutation'.

Today our immune systems are weakened by many factors. Vaccines tend to have an adverse effect to the overall health of the immune system. Antibiotics are now working against us by creating resistant strains of bacteria and viruses. Our overall health is also a factor. This can relate to such basic things as dietary habits and environment.

There are also naturally occurring substances that can be used to strengthen our overall immune quotient. I believe that we can do some things to consciously strength our immune systems, even to the point of dealing with these 'new' or 'more potent' microbes that may be on the attack.

I also believe that in some cases our immune systems can be 'educated' to attack and eliminate serious diseases that are already at work in our bodies - such things as cardiovascular disease and other disorders of imflamatory origin, even cancer. However, when we do this by 'educating' our immune system, we are not changing our genetics.