Black Death Bacterium Identified: Genetic Analysis of Medieval Plague Skeletons...

ScienceDaily ^ | Monday, August 29, 2011 | via AlphaGalileo

[djf]

A certain percentage of Europeans are immune to it due to the Delta-32 mutation.

It also confers immunity to aids if the person has both copies, one from each parent.

If a person has only one copy, he is resistant to it, but not entirely immune.

[JLLH]

Agreed. I’m not a scientist but I’m surprised that things like hygiene and exposure to many conditions unknown to most people today are not being considered. The diets back then were inferior in quality to today’s, leading to a less than stellar immune system to begin with. Couple that with constant exposure to feces, fleas, and every other contagion out there.... it’s probably a wonder more did not die! This disease was carried by a specific flea — feeding on specific rats...Given the lack of hygiene and regular exposure to rats and fleas for most people...not really a mystery that the disease, once contracted, would spread as rapidly as it did.

[Captain Beyond]

Wow this kinda scary. Hope some whack job doesn't try to recreate this thing and spread it. Plus there is the mutation factor. Some how the new medical counter measures and the global health surveillance system just does not really reassure me on how fast this thing can spread and how fast it can kill once lose.

[mrreaganaut]

Thanatology ping!

[reaganaut]

Awww, thank you. How romantic (seriously).

[bgill]

[Bellflower]

contracting bubonic plague from a batch of defective vaccine.

Say what??? Can you explain this?

[Interesting Times]

Funny - I thought T.F. (terminal flatulence)was the cause of all those deaths ;o)

"T.F. - it's nothing to sniff at."

[calex59]

In the 4 corners area of the south west it is rampant. It surfaces periodically killing off some Navahos and other tribes. It does indeed reside in the Prairie dogs of the area, but goes dormant for years and then breaks out again. Fortunately for the tribes in that area the doctors are familiar with it and the symptoms and most of the time they can get to the patient in time and if so then the cure is swift and easy. However, the longer a person waits to be treated the harder it is to cure.

[familyop]

Thanks. I’ll be watchful. It’s been at higher elevations for a long time, too, but we take some precautions. ...not many fleas, if any, up here but probably other possible ways of transmission.

[BuffaloJack]

> Lost 65 lbs.? How much did you weigh initially?

I went from 180# to 115# in 24 days.

[BuffaloJack]

> contracting bubonic plague from a batch of defective vaccine.
> Say what??? Can you explain this?

Sure. I needed to have my immunizations brought up to date in order to go on R&R.
Plague was one of the shots.
The batch was bad and contained live plague.

[TheOldLady]

I went from 180# to 115# in 24 days.

God bless you, Jack! That alone could have been fatal. You must have a cast-iron constitution. May you have it all your life.

[TheOldLady]

Interesting that the medieval diseases that caused such terror and panic are still extant, but for the most part, we are barely aware of them.

When hundreds of thousands die of plague, one person’s infection is not news. But it is today.

[P.O.E.]

“Plague Skeletons” would be a great name for a rock band.

(apologies to Dave Barry)

[aruanan]

The CDC report said he had hemochromatosis, a condition in which too much iron is absorbed into body tissues from foods in the gastrointestinal tract. Because Y. pestis bacteria are naturally iron-deficient, the extra iron in the man may have fed the bacteria and caused them to become virulent, the report said.

From the link you provided. This makes it look as though the CDC reported that hemochromatosis makes one more susceptible to plague because one's body has an excess of iron. In reality, hemochromatosis makes one less susceptible because the iron is sequestered in such a way that macrophages become deficient in iron. It is the iron in macrophages that Y. pestis uses to multiply. So this researcher probably survived longer and without a traditional presentation of the disease because of his hemochromatosis. On the other hand, if the first doctor he visited had seen grossly swollen lymph nodes, perhaps the researcher could have survived with adequate treatment.

I'm betting some newspaper writer saw "hemochromatosis" and "excess iron" and somehow found that iron helps bacterial proliferation and made the wrong leap in this case.

I remember reading many years ago that when you get an infection your body, along with producing a fever, starts sequestering iron in a form that unusable by the invading pathogen in order to starve it of a prime nutrient.

I've picked up DNA samples in the building he worked in many times, though I didn't know him.

[blam]

Interesting.

Small world too.