Thomas Knierim
11th May 2005, 11:53 AM
Did Black Death boost HIV immunity in Europe?
by Michael Hopkin
Experts argue over whether smallpox or plague should take the credit.
Deaths from plague in the Middle Ages may have left more people with a gene that guards against HIV. Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to have had an unexpected benefit - leaving 10% of today's Europeans resistant to HIV infection.
But epidemics of which disease? Researchers claimed this week that plague helped boost our immunity to HIV, but rival teams are arguing that the credit should go to smallpox.
What is clear is that something has boosted the prevalence of a mutation that helps protect against the virus. The mutation, which affects a protein called CCR5 on the surface of white blood cells, prevents HIV from entering these cells and damaging the immune system.
Around 10% of today's Europeans carry the mutation, a significantly higher proportion than in other populations. Why is it so common in Europe? One possibility is that it favours carriers by protecting them from disease. But geneticists know that the mutation, called CCR5-Delta32, appeared some 2,500 years ago - long before HIV reared its head.
Read the full length article: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050307//pf...0307-15_pf.html (http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050307//pf/050307-15_pf.html)
by Michael Hopkin
Experts argue over whether smallpox or plague should take the credit.
Deaths from plague in the Middle Ages may have left more people with a gene that guards against HIV. Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to have had an unexpected benefit - leaving 10% of today's Europeans resistant to HIV infection.
But epidemics of which disease? Researchers claimed this week that plague helped boost our immunity to HIV, but rival teams are arguing that the credit should go to smallpox.
What is clear is that something has boosted the prevalence of a mutation that helps protect against the virus. The mutation, which affects a protein called CCR5 on the surface of white blood cells, prevents HIV from entering these cells and damaging the immune system.
Around 10% of today's Europeans carry the mutation, a significantly higher proportion than in other populations. Why is it so common in Europe? One possibility is that it favours carriers by protecting them from disease. But geneticists know that the mutation, called CCR5-Delta32, appeared some 2,500 years ago - long before HIV reared its head.
Read the full length article: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050307//pf...0307-15_pf.html (http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050307//pf/050307-15_pf.html)