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Tuberculosis appeared on Earth three million years ago
Pravda.ru ^ | 08/22/05 | staff

Posted on 08/23/2005 7:39:34 PM PDT by Perdogg

Tuberculosis or consumption is much older than plague, typhus and malaria

There are medicines for almost every illness in the XXI century. However, some diseases still can be neither prevented nor cured. It is not only AIDS and cancer, but tuberculosis as well. Although the problem of mass consumption is practically solved in developed countries, there is still Third World left. Meantime, on the whole this disease mows down three million people yearly. Scientists cannot help but be concerned with the origins of the virus and its possible treatment. Finally, French researchers went public with the results of their scientific studies.

Previous research of the virus's DNA showed that the disease had appeared 35 thousand years ago. However, French scientists studied a special type of bacterium that causes tuberculosis in Eastern Africa. Specialists draw the conclusion that the "southern" virus can be much older, with other types of bacterium originating from it.

Scientists presume that the TB virus, which originated three million years ago in Eastern Africa, spread on the planet through people's migrations.

If the French scientists are right, it turns out that tuberculosis or consumption (as it was called in the XIX century) is much older than plague, typhus and malaria. It also means that even very remote ancestors of humans could have suffered from this disease. Besides, new discovery can help scientists in developing new medicine that will be able to cure and prevent the disease. The problem is that the virus quickly adjusts to the medicines, which are used to treat it.

Meanwhile, Canadian scientists from the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal managed to extract a gene that controls the speed of progress and course of tuberculosis. According to microbiologists every third person on the planet is infected with the virus, but only 5-10 percent of the carriers fall ill. And now specialists found the key that starts the mechanism of the disease.

Researchers directed their attention to the NRAMP1 gene, which is known to be closely related to many diseases, including those that are really different like leprosy and atrophic arthritis. It turned out that the variants of NRAMP1 gene control the speed of tuberculosis progress and also whether the disease will progress at all. "This is the first time a gene has been shown to control the time frame between initial infection and the disease," scientists pointed out.

For reference, tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease is characterized with the following symptoms: violent cough, loss of appetite, fever and heavy perspiration at nights.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: disease; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; history; tb; tuberculosis
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1 posted on 08/23/2005 7:39:34 PM PDT by Perdogg
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To: Perdogg

Well, this is Pravda, so I guess it's Bush's fault.


2 posted on 08/23/2005 7:40:24 PM PDT by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
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To: Perdogg

No, it didn't.


3 posted on 08/23/2005 7:42:39 PM PDT by CindyDawg ( FreeRepublic.." Sight" of the free and supporters of the brave.)
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To: Perdogg


That was TB and this was Chopin on TB. Months before his death.
4 posted on 08/23/2005 7:43:36 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Perdogg

Wow and they still can't find Natalie Holloway


5 posted on 08/23/2005 7:44:08 PM PDT by al baby (Father of the beeber)
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To: Perdogg
TB or not TB that is the question. Consumption be done about it? Of cough.
6 posted on 08/23/2005 7:45:34 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Can we swap Cindy Sheehan in Crawford for Cindy Crawford anywhere?)
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To: CindyDawg
great response!!!!!!!! ROTFL
7 posted on 08/23/2005 7:45:41 PM PDT by Hand em their arse
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To: CindyDawg
No, it didn't.

Reminds me of Monty Python's Argument Sketch ... Yes it did ... No It didn't..."

8 posted on 08/23/2005 7:46:03 PM PDT by TexGuy
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To: Perdogg
According to microbiologists every third person on the planet is infected with the tuberculosis virus.

Hmmmmmmmmmm. Tuberculosis is NOT a virus.

9 posted on 08/23/2005 7:47:08 PM PDT by dodger
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To: Perdogg

Tuberculosis appeared on Earth three million years ago.


I thought it was four million years ago, no?


10 posted on 08/23/2005 7:52:54 PM PDT by dmw
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To: Hand em their arse; TexGuy

:')


11 posted on 08/23/2005 7:53:45 PM PDT by CindyDawg ( FreeRepublic.." Sight" of the free and supporters of the brave.)
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To: Perdogg

I'm all confused is bacteria a virus or is virus's a bacteria?


12 posted on 08/23/2005 7:54:44 PM PDT by the_daug
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To: atomicpossum
"Well, this is Pravda, so I guess it's Bush's fault."
Well, what do you want from "Pravda"? While acknowledging that tuberculosis is a bacterial disease, they keep talking about it as of a viral one: "virus's DNA"... "Pravda" is not to be used even as toilet paper, for any user would be at extreme risk of catching idiotitis. It would be good for FReepers' health if Jim Robinson banned all uses (quoting, excerpting and even mentioning) of this pestilential source.
13 posted on 08/23/2005 7:56:40 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: Borges; All

Hmmm. I thought Chopin died from Botulism, you know, bad meat in the can!


14 posted on 08/23/2005 7:57:20 PM PDT by olde north church (Man enough to pay for my own sins.)
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To: gov_bean_ counter
Tuberculosis appeared on Earth three million years ago

This Day in History...

15 posted on 08/23/2005 7:58:11 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: dodger

You are so correct.

From the CDC web site:

What is TB?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs. But, TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. TB disease was once the leading cause of death in the United States.

TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The bacteria are put into the air when a person with active TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.


16 posted on 08/23/2005 7:58:15 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s......you weren't really there.)
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To: Perdogg
I am a little skeptical. First, tuberculosis, or galloping consumption, as the article refers to is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is an acid fast bacterium. A virus is another entity entirely, so I do not understand why the article refers the "the tuberculosis virus". It has never been a virus as far as the microbiology goes.

I'll stop there. No need to go further.

17 posted on 08/23/2005 7:59:41 PM PDT by Texas Songwriter
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To: Perdogg; Howlin

Tuberculosis appeared on Earth three million years ago, this according to a recent poll by John Zogby. Margin of error in this poll, conducted between August 17th - 22nd on 1,012 adults, is + or - 2.3333 million years.


18 posted on 08/23/2005 8:01:58 PM PDT by b4its2late (He who laughs last thinks slowest.)
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To: Perdogg

Either the reporter or the translator seems to have trouble with the difference between a bacterium and a virus. Tuberculosis is bacterial.


19 posted on 08/23/2005 8:06:18 PM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: olde north church

On 17 October 1849, Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis in his Parisian flat in the Place Vendôme. He was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. In accordance with his will, however, his heart, taken from his body after death, was brought by his sister to Warsaw where it was placed in an urn installed in a pillar of the Holy Cross church in Krakowskie Przedmiescie.

http://www.chopin.pl/biografia/index_en.html


20 posted on 08/23/2005 8:10:04 PM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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