• Europeans more resitant to AIDS
    170 replies, posted
[quote]LIFE was nasty, brutish and short when the waves of plague swept through Europe right up to the 18th century. [B]Scientific research now suggests, however, that the terrible suffering of our forebears means that a significant proportion of modern Europeans is resistant to Aids.[/B] Research by two British biologists published in the [I]Journal of Medical Genetics[/I] suggests that around 10 per cent of Europeans enjoy such protection as a direct result of the series of plagues that swept across the Continent from the Middle Ages onwards. Biologists have known for some time that people carrying a particular genetic mutation, known as CCR5-delta32, remain free of the disease. The mutation prevents the HIV virus from entering the cells of the immune system. It is also a continuing puzzle as to why the strains of HIV that have swept through Africa have made much less of an impression in Europe. The new theory suggests that the CCR5 mutation was a by-product of the European plagues. The proportion of people carrying the natural resistance rises dramatically in Europe and particularly Scandinavia, where the figure is 14-15 per cent. It is relatively low in countries bordering the Mediterranean and not found at all in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia or among native Americans. Christopher Duncan and Susan Scott, based at the University of Liverpool’s School of Biological Sciences, suggest that the natural protection from HIV can be attributed to the peculiar history of the plague from classical antiquity to 18th-century Denmark. They have put forward a mathematical matrix showing how the frequency of genetic mutation rises with each stage of plague outbreak from the Black Death in 1347 to the Great Plague of London (1665-66) and beyond to the Plague of Copenhagen more than half a century later. Using a computer model, they demonstrate how the pressure of natural selection increases the number of those carrying the resistance from around one in 20,000 at the time when plague devastated Europe, particularly France, during the mid-14th century to one in ten three centuries later. Professor Duncan and Dr Scott, authors of [I]The Return of the Black Death, [/I]published last year, are adamant that these plagues were not bubonic but epidemics of viral haemorrhagic fever that used the CCR5 receptor as the “entry port” into the immune system. These lethal haemorrhagic fevers — whose modern version is Ebola fever — are believed to have occurred as far back as antiquity.They were recorded in the Nile Valley from 1500 BC and in Mesopotamia (700-450BC), Athens (430BC), the plague of Justinian (AD 541-700) and the plagues of the early Islamic empire (AD 627-744). If the plague struck a village carrying off half the population, those with the natural resistance became a higher proportion of the survivors. Then they handed it on to their descendants, who were also more likely to survive a plague. Professor Duncan dismisses other theories which claim that resistance to Aids can be attributed to smallpox or bubonic plague. He is less sure that his work will have any practical impact on medical research and is not hopeful that the genetic mutation, can be reproduced artificially to create protection[/quote][URL]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article424915.ece[/URL] European Class: Racial Benefits +1 to HIV infection resistance, +2 to fashion sense, +5 cooking
[QUOTE=Vasili;29597092] European Class: Racial Benefits +1 to HIV infection, +2 to fashion sense, +5 cooking[/QUOTE] Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29597144]Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking[/QUOTE] -20 Dental Hygiene. I keed, I keed.
Haaawwwwyeeeaaaah. :buddy:
-10 Jump
[QUOTE=archangel125;29597154]-20 Dental Hygiene. I keed, I keed.[/QUOTE] *checks teeth* Still yellow, you're right.
Indian racial characteristics: +30 Intelligence, -30 Charisma (For those of us with those comical accents), +40 cooking, +55 body hair. [sp]I'm Indian.[/sp] [editline]safgadsg[/editline] Why are you rating me disagree? Are you trying to say you're hairier than me?
[QUOTE=archangel125;29597193]Indian racial characteristics: +20 Intelligence, -20 Charisma, +40 cooking, +100 body hair.[/QUOTE] +1000 after dinner napalm shit.
[QUOTE=evilweazel;29597216]+1000 after dinner napalm shit.[/QUOTE] Hey, I happen to LIKE Indian food. Well, when it's done right. When it isn't, it's horrible. Just horrible.
Would be nice to find out i'm in that 15% of Scandinavians with the gene. Though it's not like I need to worry about being in the kind of situation where I could get HIV from someone :smith:
[QUOTE=Vasili;29597092][URL]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article424915.ece[/URL] European Class: Racial Benefits +1 to HIV infection resistance, +2 to fashion sense, [b]+5 cooking[/b][/QUOTE] Yummy chips :v:
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29597144]Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking[/QUOTE] At least their accent gives them +3 charisma while in the US.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29597144]Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking[/QUOTE] why doesn't it surprise me to see you in a thread about aids..
[QUOTE=archangel125;29597193]Indian racial characteristics: +20 Intelligence, -30 Charisma, +40 cooking, [b]+55 body hair.[/b][/QUOTE] No use lying to myself.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29597144]Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking[/QUOTE] hook line and sinker
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z95n7j79Dw[/media] Sorry, that's the first thing I thought of.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;29597240]At least their accent gives them +3 charisma while in the US.[/QUOTE] Your reputation with America has increased by 1 Your reputation with America has increased by 1 Your reputation with America has increased by 1 Your reputation with America has increased by 1
This is Evolution phasing out disease.
[QUOTE=Askaris;29597257]No use lying to myself.[/QUOTE] It's true though, isn't it?
Hell yes, I hope they can reproduce it and find a vaccin of some sorts!
[QUOTE=Chickens!;29597285]This is Evolution phasing out disease.[/QUOTE] Doubt it. Evolution takes A LONG time to see real benefits.
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;29597232]Would be nice to find out i'm in that 15% of Scandinavians with the gene. Though it's not like I need to worry about being in the kind of situation where I could get HIV from someone :smith:[/QUOTE] I think you need both chromosomes to be mutated in order o have full immunity. Which is why total immunity is relatively rarer than resistance. In which you can get infected but the onset of the disease is massively slower. [quote]Doubt it. Evolution takes A LONG time to see real benefits. [/quote] To be honest I'd say this a good example of macro population micro evolution. And showcases how or why an adaptation might spread. Which is a part of evolution
Spanish racial characteristics: +50 dance +25 cooking -20% height [sp]I'm Spanish, I know this[/sp]
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29597144]Unless you're British in which case -10 fashion sense -50 cooking[/QUOTE] Canadian: -5 Humor -12 Politics.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;29597466]Canadian: -5 Humor -12 Politics.[/QUOTE] >:C
[QUOTE=archangel125;29597476]>:C[/QUOTE] Point proven. Irish: -25 Reputations with English, +24 Sexy Accent, -98% Potatoes.
[QUOTE=Chickens!;29597487]Point proven.[/QUOTE] Shit.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;29597466]Canadian: -5 Humor -12 Politics.[/QUOTE] +20 woodcutting.
But... But I got rated funnies!
[QUOTE=Mingebox;29597240]At least their accent gives them +3 charisma while in the US.[/QUOTE] Hell if Piers got a broadcasting job there any brit can. [editline]3rd May 2011[/editline] Poland: +10 alcoholism -20 teeth +50 Getting constantly invaded
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.