> André Isidoro Fernandes Esteves[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote:
>
> On Thursday, 16 de January de 2003 02:20, Tyler Durden wrote:
[...]
> > Contrary to popular belief, it still exists, but we have effective
> > treatments against it.
[...]
> > -TD
>
> And all westerns have some level of aquired imunity, for we are the
> descendents of the plague survivors. (Actualy, in the dark ages, it wasn't
>
> only one plague.. it was several plagues (mutants and new pathogens) that
> spread wavelike through europe... the populations died mainly because of
> sistematically reduced imunity)
>
The weirdest twist on this is that a genetic variant (CCR5-delta 32)
found among descendents of the survivors of the Black Death (ie,
europeans) also seems to provide protection against HIV
infection.
About 10% of europeans have this variant from one parent. 1% have it
from both. A single copy slows down HIV significantly, but the lucky
1% appear to be totally immune. Only 2% of central asians have this
varient at all, and it is entirely absent among africans, native americans,
and east asians.
Check http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf119/sf119p05.htm
Peter Trei
