{"id":7399,"date":"2005-03-15T12:32:06","date_gmt":"2005-03-15T19:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/03\/15\/if-its-not-one-plague-its-another.html"},"modified":"2005-03-15T12:32:06","modified_gmt":"2005-03-15T19:32:06","slug":"if_its_not_one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/15\/if_its_not_one.html","title":{"rendered":"If it’s not one plague, it’s another"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apparently one silver lining to the plagues that used to sweep Europe is an increased resistance to HIV today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I’m sure someone will figure out a way to make this a racial or racist thang (the betting pool is open as to whether that someone will be of European descent or not).<\/p>\n

(via BoingBoing<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently one silver lining to the plagues that used to sweep Europe is an increased resistance to HIV today. Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4177,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/23\/well_at_least_s.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":0},"title":"Well, at least someone showed some sense","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Jan-03 1:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And, remarkably enough, it was Jerry Thacker himself, who has withdrawn from his appointment to the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS. This is the gent who has previously...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25073,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/04\/bryan-fischer-is-a-dolt-amateur-virologist-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":1},"title":"Bryan Fischer is a Dolt (Amateur Virologist Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Jan-12 2:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, Bryan, that's right, it's all a huge conspiracy between money-grubbing research scientists and drug-abusing gays. I'm sure there are also some Muslims you can blame for AIDS, too, if you set your mind to it. Dolt. #ddtbReshared post from +David BadashSick. And, dangerous. Playing with lives. Totally irresponsible. Embedded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41613,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/06\/and-decrease-the-surplus-population.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":2},"title":"And decrease the surplus population","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 6-Apr-14 12:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sure the US evangelical leaders in\u00a0who prodded and lobbied the Ugandan government so hard to \"take a stand\" against homosexuality are pleased as punch that an HIV treatment center funded by the US has been shut down there. \u00a0After all, Jesus was all over abandoning the sick as part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3989,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/04\/good_luck.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":3},"title":"Good luck","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Mar-03 8:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"The gene that gives black cats their mutated coat color may help scientists battling HIV in humans. Some interesting stuff on black cats and black jaguars here....","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2077,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/03\/16\/and_were_wonder.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":4},"title":"And we’re wondering what that message is …","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 16-Mar-02 6:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a serious HIV problem in some Inuit communities around the Arctic Winter Games 2002. So a local health association has started distributing condoms to women. The condoms advertise that...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4234,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/10\/10\/impermeable_bra.html","url_meta":{"origin":7399,"position":5},"title":"Impermeable Brains","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 10-Oct-03 9:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, time for one more. The Vatican is fighting back against the use of condoms as an AIDS preventative by claiming that, well, they don't work. Not because of operator...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}