Posted on 05/07/2018 12:07:57 PM PDT by BenLurkin
An ancient virus that is a cousin of HIV is infecting a large portion of indigenous people in Australia, and doctors are unsure how it got to be so prevalent.
HTLV-1, or Human T-lymphotropic virus 1, is a human retrovirus that can cause harmful diseases such as bronchitis, leukemia, and lymphoma. Researchers have found traces of the virus in 1500-year-old Andean mummies.
A recent preliminary study from the Baker Institute for Heart and Diabetes in Alice Springs found that 40 percent of adults living in a remote region in Australia are infected with HTLV-1. Less than 14 percent of the population had HTLV-1 in 1993.
In addition, 30 percent of patients have diseases that could have resulted from HTLV-1. The study took place between 2015 and 2018.
"This is probably the highest-ever reported prevalence in any population," said Dr. Graham Taylor, a clinician and professor at Imperial College London.
Most of the infected adults are members of the indigenous community in Australia.
(Excerpt) Read more at techtimes.com ...
Stole my thunder :)
Eating Brains: Cannibal Tribe Evolved Resistance To Fatal Disease
The travelers traded food for sex?
How The Sweet Potato Crossed The Pacific Way Before The Europeans Did
In the South Pacific islands of Melanesia and Borneo, there is a retrovirus that works very much like HIV, and is called “Kuru” or the “shaking sickness”.
It has been traced to the practice of the ceremonial eating of a deceased relatives brains.
This may or may not be related, but it has a ring of similarity based upon the location, and ethnic origins of the people involved.
Of course, I wouldn’t want to be “judgemental” of indigenous religious or cultural practices....it just rang a bell.
If, indeed this were the origin of this pathogen, it would be considered very culturally insensitive and politically incorrect to even mention it!
Only 'cause you were late to the mummy thread. ;D
or more pointedly sex with mummy thread. lol
The Daddy.
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