Plague is a potentially fatal infection spread mainly by fleas, and when released into the air, it can survive for up to one hour depending on conditions. Anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, is not transmitted by air but can act as a biological weapon if spores are deliberately released into the air. Bubonic plague can advance and spread to the lungs, which is the more severe type of plague called pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague, or lung-based plague, is one of several forms of plague.
Pneumonic plague can be fatal within 18 to 24 hours of disease onset if left untreated, but common antibiotics for enterobacteria (gram negative) can treat this form of the plague. Plague bacteria released into the air will survive less than one hour, and no special precautions or prophylaxis are recommended for staff. There has never been a case of pneumonic plague associated with air travel, and the model shows very small numbers of individuals infected by and dying because of plague.
Antibiotics can treat bubonic plague, a potentially fatal infection spread mainly by fleas, and research suggests it may survive in the exposed environment for up to an hour. Although plague is not common, if the disease has progressed to the pneumonic form, humans can spread the bacterium to others through airborne respiratory droplets.
📹 After China it is the turn of the whole world ! (Zombie apocalypse) 😰 #shorts
After China it is the turn of the whole world #shorts #shortsvideo.
Can plague spread through the air?
Pneumonic plague is a type of plague caused by Y. pestis that infects the lungs and can spread through the air, through direct contact with the ill person or animal, or through untreated individuals with bubonic or septicemic plague. Bubonic plague is the most common form, resulting from a flea bite or contaminated materials entering the skin. It causes swollen lymph glands, fever, headache, chills, and weakness.
Septicemic plague, on the other hand, occurs when plague bacteria multiply in the blood and can be a complication or occur alone. It causes fever, chills, prostration, abdominal pain, shock, and bleeding into skin and other organs.
Symptoms include fever, headache, weakness, and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and bloody or watery sputum. The pneumonia progresses for 2 to 4 days and may cause respiratory failure and shock. Without early treatment, patients may die. Antibiotics, such as streptomycin, gentamicin, tetracyclines, and chloramphenicol, must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms to reduce the chance of death.
Can you transmit plague bacillus?
Plague is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria found in small mammals and their fleas. It is transmitted between animals through fleas and can be infected through bites, unprotected contact with infectious bodily fluids, or inhalation of respiratory droplets. Plague is severe, particularly in its septicaemic and pneumonic forms, with a case-fatality ratio of 30 to 100 if left untreated.
The pneumonic form is fatal unless treated early and can trigger severe epidemics through person-to-person contact. Historically, plague caused widespread pandemics with high mortality, such as the “Black Death” in the 14th century. Nowadays, it can be easily treated with antibiotics and standard precautions.
How long can plague bacteria survive?
The study reveals that the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, can survive for at least 24 days in contaminated soil under natural conditions. This discovery has implications for defining plague foci, persistence, transmission, and bioremediation after exposure to Y. pestis. Plague is a rare but highly virulent zoonotic disease characterized by quiescent and epizootic periods. Yersinia pestis can be transmitted through direct contact with an infectious source or inhalation of infectious respiratory droplets, with flea-borne transmission being the most common mechanism of exposure.
Most human cases occur during epizootic periods when highly susceptible hosts die in large numbers, forcing their fleas to parasitize hosts, including humans. Despite over a century of research, there is still no clear understanding of how Y. pestis can rapidly disseminate during epizootics or persist during interepizootic periods. The geographic distribution of the organism is also unclear, as the plague bacterium is endemic west of the 100th meridian in the United States but not in eastern states despite several known introductions.
Can the plague be spread by touching?
Plague pneumonia is caused by the coughing of droplets containing plague bacteria into the air, which can cause pneumonic plague in another person if inhaled. This transmission is the only way plague can spread between people. In the United States, person-to-person spread has not been documented since 1924, but rare cases of pneumonic plague are still reported among people exposed to sick cats. Cats are particularly susceptible to plague and can be infected by eating infected rodents.
Plague bacteria, Y. pestis, maintain their existence in a cycle involving rodents and their fleas. Plague occurs in rural and semi-rural areas of the western United States, primarily in semi-arid upland forests and grasslands. Many types of animals, including rock squirrels, wood rats, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, mice, voles, and rabbits, can be affected by plague. Scientists believe that plague bacteria circulate at low rates within populations of certain rodents without causing excessive rodent die-off, serving as long-term reservoirs for the bacteria.
How long does plague immunity last?
The study focuses on the immune responses of individuals who survived plague infection and acquired immunity against subsequent reinfection of Y. pestis. The study aims to provide data on the persistence of Y. pestis-induced immunity after infection and the immune responses of recovered patients. Previous studies have confirmed that the F1 antibody can persist for 1 to 4 years in humans, but there is no report on longer persistence of the F1 antibody and the existence of antibodies against other proteins in patients in the long term.
In this study, serum samples from 65 plague patients who were in recovery for over 10 years were collected and screened by protein microarray to investigate antibody profile. The specific memory T cell responses to F1 and LcrV proteins in the recovered patients were also analyzed. The patients were recruited for blood sampling in May 2006 and were diagnosed to have recovered from Y. pestis infection between 1990 and 2005. All patients reported no reinfections and had not received immunization against Yersinia pestis after primary infection.
How does the plague travel?
Plague is a severe disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a type of bacteria. It occurs naturally in the western United States and is transmitted through the bite of an infected flea, handling infected animals, or inhaling droplets from coughing. The disease is rare in the United States, with an average of seven cases reported each year. Exposure to plague is typically limited to the western and southwestern parts of the country. People working in or visiting areas with infected rodents are at greater risk of contracting the disease.
There have been no reports of plague in New York State, but exposures in the western U. S. or overseas have occasionally resulted in cases or investigations in the eastern U. S. Cases usually occur in late spring to early fall. Plague can be spread from one person to another when an infected person coughs and releases droplets that can infect others, typically requiring direct and close contact with the person with plague.
Can you survive bubonic plague without treatment?
Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which can be transmitted from animals to humans. It is characterized by three types: bubonic plague, which infects lymph nodes, septicemic plague, which is found in blood, and pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs. Without treatment, plague is almost always fatal. With treatment, the mortality rate for bubonic plague is 5 to 15 and around 50 for pneumonic and septicemic plague. Plague is still used today to refer to the illness caused by Yersinia pestis, but it is often referred to by its specific type.
Which plague is most survivable?
Bubonic plague is the most prevalent and survivable form of plague, with a 95% probability of recovery with prompt antibiotic administration. The disease causes painful and swollen lymph nodes in the vicinity of infected flea bites. Septicemic plague, which is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis entering the bloodstream, results in the destruction of tissues, leading to gangrene and organ failure.
The disease can be contracted through the bite of an infected flea, the ingestion of infected animal body fluids, or a secondary infection resulting from the movement of the bacterium Yersinia pestis to the bloodstream.
Can Yersinia pestis live outside a host?
The bacterium Yersinia pestis typically persists for less than 72 hours on hard surfaces in the external environment, outside the infected host. However, it has been demonstrated that the organism can survive for a minimum of 24 days in soil that has been contaminated with blood and is protected from UV light. The organism’s survival is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence of UV light and the use of cookies. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B. V., the licensors, and the contributors.
What temperature does Yersinia pestis best survive at?
The optimal temperature range for the survival of Y. pestis is 28°C to 30°C. The organism is susceptible to rapid death when exposed to UV light, temperatures exceeding 40°C, or when subjected to intensive desiccation. The site employs the use of cookies, and all rights are reserved for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. The Creative Commons licensing terms apply to open access content.
Can bubonic plague go away on its own?
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium that affects humans and animals and is spread mainly by fleas. It is named after the swollen lymph nodes (buboes) caused by the disease, which can become as large as eggs and ooze pus. During medieval times, bubonic plague killed over 25 million people, about two-thirds of Europe’s population. Rats traveled on ships carrying fleas and plague, leading to the Black Death.
Most people died, and many had blackened tissue due to gangrene. Untreated bubonic plague can be fatal, and the best recovery occurs within 24 hours of developing symptoms. However, untreated bubonic plague can be fatal.
📹 The Mystery Of The Village That Beat The Black Death | Riddle Of The Plague Survivors | Chronicle
The Black Death’s reign of terror lasted for more than 400 years. By culling up to 50% of the population of Europe, the Great …
I’m a direct descendant of the Ragge family from Eyam. We weren’t able to find the graves as we believe the headstones were used in building works. We lost 5 family members during the plague and I have the gene, that other descendants have from the village. We have done our family tree which, via my Grandmother’s family, shows a direct lineage.
Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany at the northern base of the Alps, was another small village that managed to escape the Black Death. In 1633, the villagers expressed their gratitude by promising to present a Passion Play every 10 years depicting the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That play is still being presented.
Drinking the bacon fat may very well have helped her, at least a little bit, in fighting off the plague. Malnourishment and dysentery were common ailments that came with being sick, but were nearly impossible to stave off in those times. People were too sick to keep anything down and they didn’t have IVs to force the calories and hydration into them. Drinking that much high caloric fat may have very well given her the energy her body needed to help fight off the illness.
Apparently they’ve discovered recently that the gene that protected them from the plague with an overactive immune system also gave the survivors another type of overactive immune response, allergies. So somewhere in the past one of my ancestors must have survived the plague because I have the worst allergies.
When I was about 14 years old, I took part in a play called “The Roses of Eyam”. It was about the plague striking that village. Now I am 59. Eyam was a well documented case of a village surviving the plague. I do not know whether it was because of this play, but since then I have been very interested in infectious diseases.
There was a theory that cat populations had an effect on the plague. Cats killed the animals that carried the fleas. That cats were being killed for various reasons in the middle ages; religious, their organs or meat, etc. But in the farming communities, they would have known that cats are an important part of keeping their winter feed from pests. Furth cats would have lived outdoors more often so that they could preform this vital role. Could the higher cat populations in the country side have played a role?
My ancestry is mostly Ulster-Scots, French and indigenous North American. For whatever reason I have an absolutely GODLIKE immunity to sickness. I never took a single day off during Covid and never got sick once. The worst I get is the odd cold now and again. I developed Bronchitis as an adult several years back and was on an antibiotic but it barely weakened me and I continued working with it until it went away on it’s own. My dad is the same. He also rarely bruises and he heals extremely quickly. If I get a cut you can bet it will be completely gone, scar and all, within a few months max. Somewhere along the line, my ancestors developed some wicked immunity to general sickness. I am so thankful for having these genes. Thanks ancestors, you’re the real ones 👊
I’ve been to Eyam when visiting family in Derbyshire, beautiful village so is the church. There’s a board inside with the names of the people that succumbed to the plague. And interesting reading the headstones on the graves, what brave selfless people they were. Would love to go back again to pay my respect next time back there, the whole village isolated themselves from the outside world to stop the spread further north,
I think it’s worth noting that sometimes fleas seem to have a preference for biting certain people… My husband and I were renting a house infested with mice, and those mice brought hundreds and hundreds of fleas with them. We were constantly overrun over the course of four years. Yet while my husband got bitten many, many times, I only got bitten *once*. One time. It burned like hell. I had just assumed I was getting bitten without my knowledge, but it turns out… I wasn’t being bitten at all.
This version of the events at Eyam downplays the heroism of the people who agreed to the lockdown. There were two members of the clergy involved- the newly-appointed Church of England priest and the Dissenting Priest who had retained his own small congregation. The two men joined forces. One of the crucial factors was that Eyam had a market that attracted custom from surrounding villages. This was one reason why the lockdown was essential.
I can’t imagine living through this without being able to know how my loved ones are doing. No cell phones no postal service. You would just have to pray that your loved ones are OK. What a scary time. We only got a small fraction of that with the most recent pandemic. But it pales in comparison to what these people had to deal with.
A wonderful, educational, interesting, and professional documentary of the Plague. I was quite surprised, because so many articles are overly/artificially dramatic when the drama of the incident doesn’t require anyone making it more dramatic. Thank you, I have subscribed to your website. So many interesting conjectures/hypotheses about the survivors. Bacon fat? Connection with Anthrax? Connection with thirst? Very interesting. This documentary is NOT one of conspiracies, but of scientific evaluation/research. Family names used for attempting to connect the survivors. But is doesn’t stop there … goes on to the investigation of HIV-resistance people. Amazing. An excellent documentary.
Adequate provisions provided to the villagers would have greatly reduced stress, helping to maintain healthy bodyweight, all contributing to the support of the immune system, and again, in the case of drinking the bacon fat, replenishing the necessary calories, to sustain a life. Each person responds to any illness according to the health of the individual’s immune system, and the aid they receive. People do have variants, a genetic advantage/ greater/less resistance to a specific ailment is not unknown. As heat exasperates swelling, the cooler mountain climate was another factor in their favour, I surmise. Thanks very much, Chronicle!
That was intersting. I do not have a head for Science but when I learned about how HIV/AIDS worked in Science many years ago it stuck with me. As they were talking about how Black Plague works the similarity to HIV/AIDS struck me before they even started talking about it. Thanks I love learning something new!
As a covid surviver i feel the horror that eyam village people has felt.covid wasnt as bad as the plague of 1665 but still was bad for this day and age.its taken me 3 years to recover and not fully from covid i spent 6 weeks in icu,and very bad state,came out with nerve damage in both legs and arms 1 year bed bound not moving 2nd year in wheelchair lots of medication and blood transfusion lost the sence in both feets and hands.after 2 years and 8 months im able to walk short distances.i can feel what these people has felt and seen death in my eyes alone isolated and scared.i consider mysef lucky to havr stayed alive,lots of studies has been done on me to help the nhs and other medical firms to help understand the virus.i hope we never see a horrible virus like this again.🙏🙏🙏⚘⚘❤⚘⚘🙏
25:14 it’s freaking wild that even a few years ago when this was made that scientists could not just say “let’s find if there’s a gene that helped keep some people immune or less susceptible”, but to be able to say “ok let’s go in and see if THIS gene is present”. The idea of where science is heading and it’s possibilities are equal parts both incredibly amazing and terrifying.
I feel this documentary glosses over the original premise. What made this village unique in that a large percentage of the villagers survived. Sure they had the plague resistant gene, BUT a) why did this village have it in such a high percentage of the population? and b) later the documentary suggests the gene/mutation came about because of the plague across Europe. Why was this village different?
I began perusal a medieval history show about the plague only to end with the realization I carry one copy of the delta 32 gene. What a catharsis, to know why I didn’t die. I also know I had relatives living in London at the time; the Metcalf’s (of the middle hill), descendants of Arkfrith the Dane. That some folks had a gene for it means that similar virus had visited man prior to the plague.
I think it’s amazing that any of us of European ancestry are here at all considering the large percentage of people who were wiped out during waves of the plague. I don’t think many people realize that the plague still exists worldwide. In the US it mainly affects the western states including my own Colorado where prairie dogs can spread the disease via fleas. It’s rare though, only 500 cases reported in the US in the past 50 years. Fortunately, bubonic plague is treatable with modern antibiotics, and the vast majority of patients recover. Pneumonic plague is very rare worldwide, but if not treated with IV antibiotics within 24 hours, most patients die.
A tall tale indeed. According to the figures presented, Eime only had slightly lower mortality rates than European cities. The extra food could account for this. Brings to mind the diamond princess, covid plague ship. 40% had some sort of immunity, possibly from previous exposure to a covid or a cross reactive disease.
“…the stories of those who survived have gone untold. Until now.” If “now” is 20 years ago, that is—since that’s when the Secrets of the Dead episode “The Mystery of the Black Death” first aired, on 30 October 2002. Twenty-year old documentaries still have value and are interesting but providing complete or, at least, some information as to their provenance (e.g., the date the documentary first aired) would give viewers some idea of how current (or not) the state of the science in the article is.
Watching this after living through the Covid pandemic has me wanting to get myself tested. None of my 4 children or myself have had Covid despite 2 of us having severe health problems and all of us having been exposed to it on numerous occassions due to those around us being careless. My mother and sister have had it 3 times each. I have no relationship with my father so I’m unsure if he has had it. But it’s strange and even my doctor has commented on it once.
During the Covid-19 pandemics I saw my coworkers getting sick and some of them dying. There was no home office for us factory workers in Mexico. Everyday I went out and took the subway to get to my job and I literally saw people fainting on the street and at my workplace because of the disease. My parents and my sister had mild symptoms but I never got ill. I wonder if I have a similar mutation.
The last name of the lady which is Blackwell I’m sure comes from that time period as people that survived had similar last names as last names started becoming more common and originated from profession or circumstance (smith, wright,…) I went to college with a girl that had a similar origin in her ancestors past and the last name which was indicative of surviving at least one of the epidemics
I suspect my dad has one copy of this gene. As far as I can remember, he has rarely gotten sick beyond having the occasional cold – and he works in healthcare. He refused to close shop during the first waves of the Covid pandemic, and though I was very angry and scared of losing him… he still never seems to have caught it 😬 and here I am, ill with it again 😭
There are a lot possibilities here. Natural resistance, weak strain, a weaker, misidentified disease, something anomalous about that particular place and time that kept fleas or their carriers populations’ in check. This is mid 1600s. Plague had already been passing through this population for 300 years. That’s plenty of time to build immunity, I think.
I keep pondering about this: I understand all the behavior of the plague. The only part I have a hard time wrapping my mind around is how and why does the plague disease flare up when it did? Like how did it start? It’s just really strange that virus/bacteria/etc. Are capable of essentially behaving like a intelligent animal in the environment to work to strike like a ant colony or a hornets nest swarm. Like viruses and plagues just come out of no where and hit strong. Its probably related to the line up of “not having a good immune response to the bacteria 🦠 ” then add it getting transferred to a densely populated areas and if hygiene is a issue then that eases spread and effectiveness. It’s just weird that it comes up and goes away, yet there is the bacteria around still in some places but plagues are really unique things that i guess I’m sorta morbidly facinating in the behavior of the bacteria and the behavior of what causes future ones to occur?
It appears there is no mention here of the effect the cold winters had on the plague itself . The people came to realise that the plague was somehow slowed down and all but disappeared during the cold of a Peak District winter only to reappear again with the coming warmer days of spring . This cycle happened until eventually the plague died out some years later. This possible link should have been investigated at this time in my opinion.
In another article it was proposed that lice were also to blame, and even if they died over time in the cloth, their microscopic bacteria laden excrement could have been breathed in by the servant as he shook out the damp cloth. It being made damp probably kept the plague bacteria hydrated long enough. People in the village may have been conscious of better cleanliness practices. Just sweeping out a dirt floor on a regular basis may have helped to rid the house of lice and fleas.Fleas can live a very long time between blood feeds, as can bedbugs.I just think that village farmers did realize the value in keeping their animals healthy by cleanliness of pens etc and it carried over into the wives in the households.The value of selling healthy eggs, meat etc for a premium depended on a measure of cleanliness. They just couldn’t get top dollar for sick animals. Plus the small villages would have had greater access to fresh, unadulterated water supply. The dung would have been gathered also to a pile or stall to decompose for fertilizer. This commonly takes about a year to break down to be able to use, and frequently turned. The temperature of the compost gets pretty hot as it breaks down in the center and could catch fire if not tended to. The microbiotic bacteria heat up as they feed on the waste and multiply and create the heat. Also the dung contains ammonia from the animal urine and must have air exposure to eliminate and dry it away. Also the hay is added, possibly from bedding in the household beds added regularly which would cut down on the lice and flea eggs hatching inside the home.
Perhaps the reason why HIV/AIDs infected and killed so many in Africa, as compared to Europe, was that its population was not impacted by the bubonic plague as was western Europe, and therefore the proportion of its population which carried the protective Delta 32 gene variant was lower. If the politicians would get out of the way of decent research, perhaps investigations could be undertaken concerning those individuals who are carriers of C19 but who never became ill, and those individuals who have been exposed to C19 but who have never been infected or become ill.
Excellent documentary, isn’t it like historians/scientists to not give the people the glory so to speak, because the information doesn’t fit their understanding. One thing they thought might be a factor is those who had consumed silver, the wealth ate off silver plates, cups forks. Eem had 14% of the gene 32. Yet more than half of the village survived.
Is it a possibility that by handling her sick children, she was passively vaccinating herself? She already had resistance to it, but could her contact with it strengthened her immune system 🤔 I find these topics to be fascinating as I have a daughter who is a histotechnologist. She is very interesting to visit with 🙂
When I watch documentaries like this it reminds me of how very sad and frustrating it is that humanity spends a lot of time energy and money in funding new bigger and better ways of killing each other or providing wealth for just a greedy privileged few while depriving the rest. We get bogged down in deadly disputes and pursuits, tearing each other apart instead of pulling together. We are holding ourselves back! We should be putting all our energies and pooling all our resources into projects innovations and discoveries that benefit *all* of humanity, such as what this scientist in the documentary attempts to do. Millions of people needlessly died in two World Wars in the 20th century alone: what a waste of talent, potential, resource, biology culture and discovery: all gone into the grave before their time. Billions of people are alive today: what scientists could learn from them!
A majority of Eyam’s population survived….just as a majority survived in London and other towns affected by the 1665/66 Plague. Eyam’s “claim to fame” lies with its decision to isolate rather than it’s peoples’ rate of survival. The 1665/66 Plague affected mainly places in SE England and was nowhere near as virulent as earlier outbreaks.
What a wonderful and insightful scientist. Hurray ! You took our medical community light years ahead. I hope my two married friends can live a long life together with the present medication, any day now they might have a cure. All because of an intruder in their home while he was out of town, and not tested for this disease when she called police who arrived with ambulance.
My 4th times great grandmother was born and lived in Eyam. She must have been one of the survivors as I am here today. She was married in Eyam and moved to the neighbouring parish. Her grandson ( My gran’s grandfather) Adam Oldfield, moved to Great Hucklow, in Hope Parish, Derbyshire He was a farmer of 200 acres and a free lance lead miner, as were most of the men and some women in Great Hucklow. The lead was chipped out in the caves in the surrounding hills. Adam’s older brother Elias Oldfield inherited 700 acres of land and was a Baronet. but Adam, as the second son, only got 200 acres.
William Mompesson absolutely did what the Prophet Muhammad told since 1440 years about the plague. The Prophet Muhammad said: “If you hear of plague on a land, do not approach it, and if plague occurs on a land while you are on it, do not leave it to escape from plague.” The secret behind the Prophet Muhammad’s speech (hadith) is that if a person is able to survive the plague in some land, this indicates that his immunity is strong, so he should not try to leave that land to another land, as his immunity may weaken and he may become infected with the disease.
Living in a rural town here in America, I have watched in a 30-year span about 70% of the people have left. The ones that remain are dying off due to old age. Everything is abandoned and falling apart. There are no jobs and when small shops do try to set-up, they don’t last long. There just isn’t enough people. …so yes some of us do know what it’s like to watch their whole town fall apart
Very interesting! This documentary clearly simplifies things and makes some assumptions and logical leaps. As someone who studied Biology in college, I chuckled slightly at the way they explained how the survivors would have passed on the traits that helped them survive to their descendants, as though that were a novel concept. No, that’s just basic natural selection. Still very interesting, especially the possible “Delta 32” genetic immunity null hypothesis the authors were working on.
EXCELLENT. I’VE been to visit the plague village of Eyam Derbys🏴🇬🇧 with my Dad. THE Black Death was such a cataclysmic event transforming Europe & England. BUT how far did it reach? The IOM? Ireland? The Shetlands, Orkney, the Faroes, & Iceland? TWO questions though I’d like answering: what about ∆32 gene carriers during the Spanish Influenza epidemic around the end of WW1, & now CV-19? PERHAPS, even the ∆32 gene went back to the Plague of Justinian & beyond. One of the key reasons the very late Roman, Byzantine empire, didn’t recover it’s former power?
I’m sure that genes do play a part in ones resistance to these plagues, but I read also that vaccines caused plagues and those who did not get vaccinated against it stayed healthy. Also, families who did not take the vaccines and who had sliced open onions all around the inside of their houses stayed healthy.
Just watched another documentary on this same subject, and the people on that said, yes, status, along with cleanliness and the ability to be able to change their under clothing had a big effect . They also said that it was more likely to be spread from body lice from people. Nothing about any mutation of genes. So, there’s science for you folks. Regardless, thanks are due to the village of Eyam.
I’m a bit confused reading some of these comments below, are people not perusal the article all the way and halfway through just scrolling down and making random comments? Because, a lot of what people are asking and speculating about in these comments are pretty much covered in the article. The real question now is, how do we use that mutated “gene” and give it as a sort of “vaccine” type thing to the rest of the population or as a treatment therapy in order to cure those who catch the disease, and would this mutation also somehow help the battle towards cancer treatment as well? That’s what I want to know at least.
A very interesting article. The poor woman who lost six of her children might have had older ones who survived if they had one gene. The good food coming in probably helped anyway to recover their health if affected. I’m wondering if this gene is in those who survived Covid and unfortunately brag about, not being vaxxed, but just lucky. My mother and father b1911, 1902, respectively, survived the last Pandemic of 1918 and us children are all survivors of influenza epidemics since the 1940’s, plus Covid 19. Might save jabs if we know we have the gene!
As told this seems to be confusing two different plague outbreaks. The Black Death normally refers to the 13th century outbreak, and the description of its arrival in Europe refers to that outbreak. The events in Eyam happened four centuries later, in the 17th century outbreak (I believe the last major one in England)
I would like to point out that ALL SIX of the unaffected woman’s children died. She should have passed a copy of the gene to at least 1/4 of her children, if not half of them. The hypothesis is debunked by the woman they are trying to use to confirm it. The fact is, plague always has survivors, though it depends more on the form the disease takes (respiratory, abdominal, lymphatic) and that may depend more on how it was picked up than on the genetics of the victims. This documentary grossly overstates the case, though it is true that the plague was a terrible, widespread catastrophe, with unimaginable loss of life. Thankfully, modern medicine can prevent pandemics, but politics and money can cause fake plandemics of fictitious diseases.
I have one of these 2 genes. It also makes you less susceptible to HIV BUT extremely sensitive/hyper-reactive to COVID & other respiratory viruses. Why I’m still living as if it’s 2020. 🙁 but maybe this is why I have the steadfast self-discipline to stay strong & always wear multiple masks at once & socially distance & never take my masks off in front of anyone unless I’m outdoors. Lots of sensitivities, allergies & over reactive immune system & have had many viruses & Lyme Disease (bacterium) as well. I’m fascinated by this. I was also having nightmares as a toddler about men with long beaks & 28 years later I was flipping through websites & for the first time saw the bird masks that were worn during the plague & I started crying & hyperventilating immediately. There IS ancestral memory within all of the other traits we inherit. I then began my research into why I reacted so strongly, turns out these are my ancestors., the survivors.
Is this program a stealing of the one narrated by Liv Schreiber (Secerets of the Dead), or is that one a stealing of this? they are the same show. Hate when this happens. Would like to know which is “original”. I have seen other American PBS Programs that turned out to be nearly ver batum, same footage copies of Shows from the UK.
Remarkable story, but it leaves off, at this writing, the potential for similar genetic resistance to other plagues, and the reader knows what I’m talking about! CoViD! So, here’s the hope that we will be able to short-circuit many diseases with some kind of genetically based strategy to resist and prevent many such diseases!
Eyam is a fascinating preserved village. You can walk between the villages and touch the Boundary Stone which acted as a marker separating the residents of the plague affected village of Eyam from the non-affected villagers of Stoney Middleton in 1665. During the plague money soaked in vinegar (believed to kill the infection) was placed by the villagers of Eyam in exchange for food and medical supplies.
I know in a very cold pragmatic sense the plague gave future generations better survival chances, which is why the Black Death doesn’t affect us today in such a profound way anymore, but it doesn’t change the fact that people still died from it and the survivors had to live with that reality. The recent COVID-19 outbreak has given us some sense of what they had to go through, but it’ll never be the same. I can’t imagine whole neighborhoods and villages just wiped out. It really emphasis the need that we have to keep survivor’s stories alive, not just look at the statistics.
We use to sing the song—in Germany—as children, ” Ring around the Rosie, Pocket full of Posies, Husha husha we all fall down” That is the song telling about the signs of the plague. It began with a red sore and a ring around it on your skin, Posies was a herb ( which one I don’t know) to prevent from getting it; though once you have the ” rings” on your skin appearing, you are bound to die ” husha husha we all fall down”.
One who avoided the plague completely would have had to have been extremely lucky, but as we see here some did. And some lived in sparsley populated rural settings where the plague never arrived at all, so would not spread, I gather. The most surprising thing for me was that folks who got it survived at all, as I thought getting the plague in those days was pretty much a death sentence in all or nearly all scenarios. What a hell Elizabeth Handcox and others must have endured. Imagining having to bury six children you had brought into the world. It has to be something to do with survivor’s genetic inheritances I think. Only now, getting on to 400 years later, science may have got on top of the mystery, but not I or anybody else can not be as sure as desired. Delta 32 might be the right conclusion.
My Hep C was cured by my own body . My doctor was completely over the moon about it to me it was not really a big deal until recently, be quite interesting to look into that, I don’t have European descent I don’t think Scottish, my grandpa is from Scotland, and my Grandma, I also had H1 n1 I was sick for months, there wasn’t very many people that caught it in Red deer where I lived. I also didn’t get covid-19 not vaccinated or never will be so maybe this is actually worth looking into.
this is a fantastic documentary! Just one thing… Although it was mentioned, i don’t feel the doc did enough to clarify the difference between pneumonic and bubonic plague – it mentioned at the start that “pneumonic plague has a mortality rate of close to 100%” which is true, but it didn’t mention that bubonic plague had a much lower rate (still over 60%) which is relevant as most the cases described were bubonic cases (i.e. boils on neck or underarms etc)
In the middle 1300’s the plauge did speed human to human in places. It’s the only explanation as to why the desise appeard in places no rats lived. (That and the fact rats don’t spread out too far from where they were born and this desise exploded too fast for rats alone to be the carriers.) But numbonic plauge doesn’t account for the spred either. People suffering from numbonic plauge travelled even less. The person to person transmission happened because back then fleas lived on people. It is the reason why plauge doesn’t spred so fast these days, despite an equivalent lack of inate immunity.
In the Herman Hesse book, ‘Narzis and Goldmund’, you get an idea of what the plague was like as Goldmund wanders around Europe. I can remember in the 1950’s when people would check the seams of their clothes to find and kill the fleas. These were heavy garments that could only be drycleaned. Not everybody had an inside toilet either. We are not too far away from inadequate unhealthy rentals for lower incomes. There are still people living in substandard dwellings today. What hope do they have of good health?
Similarly, having a single copy of the DeltaF508 mutation that causes cystic fibrosis appears to have provided a selective advantage during the cholera pandemics of Europe in the 18th C, insofar that the mutation prevented the CFTR from opening and the subsequent lethal loss of fluid from the bowel and thus death. This is supported by the high prevalence of heterozygous cystic fibrosis mutations in Caucasian populations (as compared to Asian and Black pop’n) today. Unfortunately having two copies leads to phenotypical CF and a very shortened life span, thus illustrates the importance of genetic diversity and marrying outside the family.
I am a gay man. In the 80s I did everything everyone else was doing. I knew countless people who died of AIDS. It’s a funny thing, I do not get colds or flu. I was a social worker during covid and was constantly exposed to people in all different situations and almost everyone I know has had covid at some point, except me. I often wonder how I could be so lucky. The other thing that’s odd is, when I was young I worked with horses. I got numerous cuts and minor injuries, and though I don’t remember ever cleaning the wound beyond a sray with the hose and wrapping with whatever tape was handy before going back to cleaning stalls. I have never had an infection, even to this day and I’m pushing 70. Not to say that I have the gene, but it surely must have been spread quite widely in all that time. This account makes me wonder how many people carry the ‘immunity gene’. It would be interesting to have a test for it.
This is very interesting as I would expect the survivors of the general population would have have the necessary gene Delta 33 since the disease dissapered mysteriously after killing 3/4 of Europe. Maybe there is another gene still yet to be discovered that helped our ancestors survive the pandemic. The disease took it’s toll on the humanity throughout the years and finally disappeared .
Super interesting! I have so many questions! Does this mean people with two copies of the gene don’t succumb to ANY infectious disease (or at least, any infectious disease whose mechanism is to penetrate white blood cells)? The consequences are potentially staggering for the future if healthcare as antibiotics become less effective and bacteria become resistant. Can this mutation be ‘engineered’? Would this provide protection from anything, ranging from the common cold to Covid…?
The natural defense wasn’t found in Asia, Africa, South America, etc., because the black plague didn’t originate in any of those places. Yersinia pestis was obviously born in Europe where some previously nonfatal regional diseases/bacteria came together and formed it, perhaps stemming from one individual’s (patient zero’s) contact with 2 people who each carried a piece of the puzzle which was needed to form it. Patient zero’s contact with those 2 individuals resulted in Yersinia pestis within him/her, which he/she subsequently spread to others. Delta 32’s presence in Europe (as opposed to Asia, Africa, South America, etc.) is simply a result of the host being native to that region, the same way the original animal host of a contagion can often times appear to be less affected and/or presents as asymptomatic.
It’s July 2023. When this started, it reminded me of a study that the survivors of the plague may be ancestors of those that test hiv+ but never has any issues and those that were exposed so much that they should be hiv+ but aren’t. I made myself a note to check out new info bc I either didn’t remember the info or never had it. Then VOILA! I still have some questions about the study to look up but this will make it so much easier bc I have names, dates, locations. I’m very curious as to how this info has helped. I wonder if the prep meds and the meds that have people testing “negative” (not quite that simple but this is a YT comment section) are results of this plague, hiv/aids dna results…
would a good next step to take be with mosquitos( ignoring the factor of possible air transmission)? mosquitos have been noted to have preferences of people’s blood, is it not possible that the same is true with flees? Is there a correlation between fatality and the quantity of fleas biting the person? of course, there are many contradictions to this, such as the more spacious layout and reproduction of bacteria, but those who were bitten less would have possibly had a slower version which would have allowed more time for the mutation to cultivate?
PBS had a special on a male individual, gay, whose partners were dying from AIDS but he was unaffected. He went to his Dr with this and It turns out that he was related to victims of the plague who survived because they carried the resistant gene and that resistant gene was passed on to him. Amazing!
This suggests that everybody living in England after say 1700, is descended from a bubonic plague survivor, apart from those descended from later immigrants. The same must be true of present day inhabitants all along the plague path in Europe. Has any research been done to see if their descendants have been exposed to AIDS and shown the same immunity? What about to COVID? Does delta32 confer general immunity to infectious and contagious disease?
Was that only because the older people in that village looked so scary to outsiders who were at the time travelling through that village without bothering to buy anything from the locals there? Like when for example they had an inherited tendency to loose their lower set of teeth while being too poor to obtain a set of dentures for only the teeth on their lower jaw? In some people who cannot afford dentures for only the teeth on their lower jaw then their upper teeth start growing again. Longer.
I agree with the comments below. Having cats around keeps the rodents population down. It’s ironic that people today do not like cats but cats are surging because they fit in small homes & apartments. Whenbi bought our duplex there were so many shrews that my black averaged 4 shrews each day until the day day died. We always had cats on our farm, ranch, & horse farm. No problem wuth ridents ever.
Different situation but in the UK Tesco used to pay staff £7.40ph in the late 90s then the government made the minimum wage £5.90 to help a handful and then every company in the UK adopted the minimum wage!! Over time it has risen BUT if the government hadn’t had such a stupid idea the staff today would be way WAY better off.. Those of us on older contracts were offered new contracts (less money) + a one off payment so that everyone was on the same wage going forward, those that refused found themselves unemployed..
So i have 2 uncles who are hiv positive, both since the mid -late 80s.. One uncle has the CCR5 Delta-32 mutation, has never been on ARV medication, and is what the medical community call an ‘elite controller’, and is just fine. He never develops opportunistic infections and has a totally normal Cd4 count and % at all times. My other uncle however was always periodically sick and was on a never ending rollercoaster/carousel of new and old medications for virological control.. eventually he like almost everyone else become undetectable and was completely fine, once we adopted treating most w Tenofivir Disaproxil Fumarate and Emtracitibine ~2007. Sure, But the point of the story is about my other uncle, the one with the mutation. There is a large swathe of current descendants of plague survivors from Nordic/Danish/Scando areas that display this mutation, and it’s quite intriguing that this specific uncle is the ONLY person in the family with fair hair and a light complexion. We always laughed that he is the son of ‘the milkman’. We only know he has this specific CCR5 mutation cos his blood has been studied for 30+ years along with other ‘elite controllers’. And when this mutation was being studied about 13 years ago, his blood was once again looked at.. I am 100% convinced that this plays a role in inferred/innate immunity
That double gene thing could also explain why some people didnt get covid at all and others in their family did contract it in some way. During the pandemic I was one who didnt get sick even one time I was health as an ox the entire time and still going strong at 35yrs old despite my bad knees and eyesight and stuff with dealing with my remaining teeth.🤕
how could they just board them up? what were the families supposed to do with the dead ones ? live with rotting corpses? how would they get any food? how would they tell anyone that they had dead people to bury ? i think a lot of them didn’t die of plague but of thirst and starvation. If nobody could go to t he well or get any food !
My husband died of HIV/AIDS in 1986. I had a “very strong positive” test (triple tested) in 1985. I was breastfeeding our 18 month old baby, who tested negative (I immediately stopped breast feeding). The year my husband died, I took another blood test which was now inexplicably negative. I have to wonder….
Regarding the spread of the disease, modern thinking is that the Great Plague was spread by, the then prevalent, human flee. Rats are generally not nomadic and research has shown that most rats don’t wander much further than 50-100 meters from where they were born; however, humans travel much further.
28:00 “John Hancock is a direct descendant of Elizabeth Handcock, whose husband and 6 of her children fell victim to the plague. No explanation has ever been given for why she alone managed to escape it”. If she alone survived, then was she pregnant at the time? Or did she remarry and go on to have more children? Or did some of her children survive since it says 6 children died, vs husband and all 6 children died? The ambiguous wording here is very confusing. One of the above had to have occurred though for there to be direct descendants loving today. It eould have been bice to inckude this info since they obviously have it, having done geneological mapping.
I’m not halfway through, but already I am thinking bacon is a cure all and maybe a harsh winter may have helped with the fleas. However, to say half the town survived when the death rates for the plague across Europe was 1/4 -1/2 of the population dying (not to mention the documentaries 1/3 statement) it does not sound astounding but within the norm of all the research I’ve done for 25+ years.
In some ways it was a punishment. Leading up to this the population of domestic cats declined dramatically due to extreme persecution as people were told that they were connected with witch craft. This caused a boom in rodent populations. Rodents carry the plague and the flees transmitted it. Control rodent populations is one of the best ways to control the plague. Cats are rather effective at this.
Delta32 is also related to multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Having Delta32 doesn’t guarantee a diagnosis but it does significantly increase the chance of diagnosis. The theory right now is that having Delta32 along with environmental factors, possibly a Barrs Epstein infection during puberty, may increase the risk for multiple sclerosis.
The real question is why all of Elizabeth’s children died. They would have all been heterozygous for the Delta32 gene (given that their mother was homozygous for the gene.) Heterozygous adults became sick, but survived. Perhaps the heterozygous adults had some acquired immunity from having been exposed to Yersinia pestis, or a related pathogen) at some time during their lives, whereas, heterozygous children would not have had the time to be exposed.
“Mutations like Delta 32 are genetic mutations that die out…” No, mutations don’t die out unless there is environmental pressure to reduce or remove them as a strategy for species survival. They just hang on. There is a hypothesis on the Internet that humans will eventually lose their toes. Toes are, at this time, very important for balance and sprinting. I don’t see them disappearing any time in many generations. But say they did. It would be because a different structure allowed humans to survive better than with toes. Otherwise, if having toes presents no difference in survival, they will remain. This has happened with fingers. There are many presentations of fingers on the hands of people that have no effect on survival. Polydactylism—one or more extra fingers on a hand—is common among Amish. Having extra fingers doesn’t affect survival, so people with extra fingers or toes exist alongside five-fingered people. Neanderthals existed alongside ancestors of modern human beings. If there were no environmental pressure, they would still live as full, genetic Neanderthals.
yes they say about genes etc. I remember being at primary school many years ago I am now nearly 68. Having the 6 needle small jab in the lower arm, I can still see the marks to this day lol. For TB it swelled up meaning I had been in connect with someone with Tb and fort it off and I was immune. Thank god as I didn’t want the really large 6 needle jab in my upper arm lol
So if we find a way to integrate Delta 32 into babies or people in general, would this prevent further bouts of SARS-like viruses (such as COVID-19)? With the treatments and preventative medications for HIV – could this not be applied on a wider scale to prevent future pandemics like what we’ve just come through? I’m sure someone is already on it but it doesn’t seem to get much/any coverage in the media.
This is so interesting. If the Delta 32 really helps keep white blood cells exteriors intact Could this same gene in study help the AIDS research in how contraction of that disease as well could be prevented? I realize bacterium are very different than viruses but the action of contraction or attack on the immune system through white blood cells is very similar from my simple understanding. I would hypothesis that study of this gene could in fact prove beneficial here and theorize that those with Delta 32 genes, that same population of people may be more likely not to contract HIV if they were to come into contact with the disease as well. Not sure how you would study or test that theory safely though. Just some thoughts
Imagine having zero concept of genes or bacteria or viruses and being CERTAIN that you must have done something to anger god so much that he’s decided to deprive you of all of your six children while leaving you alive to mourn. I mean, that’s basically the mentality and belief these poor people would have had. Some had ideas of “bad air” and things like that, but everything was a “punishment from god” for most people in these times.
Pope Gregory IX, the 178th pope of the Catholic Church from 1227 to 1241, is often remembered for issuing a Papal Bull declaring that cats bore Satan’s spirit, which subsequently led to huge numbers of cats being killed throughout Europe. And it helped Black Death to come. Therefore, good number of hungry cats could solve the puzzlle.
It’s interesting to hear someone ask to imagine 50 to 60% of a given population to die of disease. Just ask the Myans. Or any indigenous North American population. 95% of ALL of them were killed by European diseases brought over by the Spanish. Rome lasted nearly a thousand years. The Mayan empire lasted 1500 years, right up until the Spanish invaded in the 1500’s. Within 100 years, the entire Mayan empire was completely decimated and disappeared under the overgrowth of the Yucatan jungle. Colonialism is always blamed for every decimated population in the Americas, but it was actually disease. Europeans had experienced hundreds of years of disease and the survivors had built up a certain immunity that indigenous peoples of the Americas had no defense to. And of course, none of them knew that.
If the upside of Delta-32 is that it confers resistance to the Plague, what else does it do? Do carriers of this gene suffer statistically significant higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, dementia, etc., than non-carriers? There must be some downside to it to have made is so comparatively rare in the European population prior to the introduction of the Plague. Or was it simply just a very recent mutation that happened to coincide with the arrival of the Plague in Europe?
the fact that family members still died made me disbelief the theory proposed, it’s not sure, nevertheless immunity should play a key role. delta 32 as an effect of the plague is not surprising, it’s only a genetic record of the survivors, but still couldn’t explain what was the key of the immunity difference, it’s presented as the sole explanation, but provide no absolute prove of evidence, still a theory, one thing is sure that not everyone would be affected in a pandemic
Interesting to consider the cultural immune system. Prohibiting pork consumption prevents trichinosis for example. Telling people that believe in God that pork offends God is fairly effective at eliminating pork eating and trichinosis. Did HIV pop up only when some cultural prohibitions were relaxed, in exactly the community that had dropped those prohibitions, simply by pure coincidence? Or had it been around for millenia but was actively suppressed by the cultural immune system?