--- Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5174893.htm > > An ancient virus that has tagged along harmlessly > through human evolution > appears to improve people's chances of surviving > AIDS by blocking HIV's > ability to infect blood cells, new research shows. > Several recent studies have found that people who > are infected with the > recently discovered bug, called GB virus C, are > substantially less likely > than usual to die from AIDS. Experts assumed that > GBV-C somehow interferes > with HIV, but just how this protection works has > been a mystery. > > Now experts think they have the answer: It thwarts > HIV's ability to infect > cells by wiping away one of the chemical docking > posts that HIV needs to make its entry... <snip rest of thought-provoking article>
I wonder if this has any bearing on the 'descendents of Black Death survivors are more resistant to HIV' hypothesis? This 2001 _The Scientist _ article notes researchers who think that the Black Death was actually another type of virus (filovirus), and others who think that the genetic mutation was related to a Stone Age Scandanavian epidemic. http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20010713/04/ >From 2001, this outlines two researchers' theory that an Ebola-like virus was responsible for at least part of the "Black Death," father than the flea-vectored _Yesinia pestis_ bacteria: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/blackdeath_010730.html This is a Jan/02 detailed/technical discussion of chemokines and genetic variances that seem to affect progression of disease, and this sentence relates to the 'bubonic plague' hypothesis: "Analysis of CCR5-delta32 alleles was restricted to patients of European descent because this pattern is very rare in individuals of African descent." http://www.aidsmap.com/treatments/ixdata/english/648E0F18-F0E2-4398-BA23-AF28F28FF562.htm This is a good if slightly dated (2001) general-overview lecture of HIV/AIDS, with links to other sites; some nice graphics/cartoons: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/mbi/hivsjf.html Links include undergrad/grad/med student virology lectures, as well as to UNAIDS. David Herlihy, who lectured about the plague and its tremendous effect on European culture (he saw it as -at least in part - a spur for technology and change), proposed that there were more than one cause of "the plague" - he died in 1991. http://www.unc.edu/courses/westciv/readings/herlihy.html "...While the mass death was not a consequence of social decline, Herlihy contends, it did prove to be a terrible but effective catalyst for social renewal. It broke demographic, economic, and technological deadlocks by depleting the work force and raising labor costs. Landlords had to offer tenants forms of capital such as oxen and seed. Artisans had to extend guild apprenticeships beyond the family circle. Craftsman-entrepreneurs such as Johannes Gutenberg found ways to substitute technology for manpower. With soldiers and sailors as with scribes, the labor shortage stimulated innovation: introduction of firearms and larger ships..." Debbi who has over *500* posts to clear! sheesh! You guys were busy over the weekend! :o __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
