My son has just sent through the following link which I think might be of interest to some of you. It is about some research that has been done regarding the antibodies that attack those of us with RA and Chron's Disease, in relation to those who survived the Black Death.
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech...
I suppose the upside is that the said ancestor survived the Black Death!
Take care, Knip.
Thank you very much for posting this. It makes for a fascinating read.
Very interestinc- thank you.
Good read. xxx
enjoyed that, do wonder if it means we're able to fight off other viruses such as covid too
Not sure aobut that but I tend to think our bodies are so busy attacking us that they are too distracted to fight off other viruses as well as we'd like them to! I'd be interested in what others think about that. Mind you, it's our drugs which make us so vulnerable. Catch 22 I guess! Take care and keep looking on the bright side. K.
This is anecdotal, but a month before I developed RA symptoms I went on vacation with my children and grandchildren. A few days after we arrived at our destination everyone came down with COVID. The kids had cold symptoms but the parents had something more like a bad flu. So I took my grandchildren into my hotel room at night to let their parents get a good night's sleep. Despite having the littlest ones in bed with me, I never developed so much as the sniffles. But a month later I couldn't get out of my chair. My first RA flareup hit me like a truck. My RA said viruses and vaccinations are known triggers but perhaps the reason why is because when our bodies aren't occupied with fighting off a major infection, they turn on themselves.
Yes, read this the other day. So if we could travel back in time we'd be the lucky ones. ..
Hmm, I’m not so sure we’d most likely die young with the plague and Black Death instead of covid and flu.
I'm sure we would have done now that we have RA...I think Ginny was probably referring to if we were in good health way back then. Just imagine the horror of it, even if it didn't get you! Hopefully, we'll never know. Take care, Knip.
Aha, good health - sometimes it’s hard to even remember what that was. 😉
Rearly interesting, thanks for the link
That’s very interesting. I’m uncertain that the study will make any difference to those of us with autoimmune diseases but you never know someone may join the dots one day.
Thanks. Here’s a link to same content - but different article
theguardian.com/society/202...
Thank you OldTed. Who know what they might be able to use that informatio for in the future. I wonder who thought of doing that study on those poor souls who lost their lives way back then. Take care, Knip.
Yes I think these studies are probably more important than most of us realise - especially now with Covid and other prevalent viruses mutating and becoming plagues. Helps us understand how much these periods of human evolution will impact on mass populations much further down the line.
There is some research showing that some changes on one of our genes does make a difference to our response to infection with Covid. Chromosome 6 I think it was, but I'd have to look the article up again.
It seems likely that small changes in genetic makeup will make a difference to way in which we produce our defences to infections. The article about plague and the increased incidence of people with that mutation needs confirming with other studies - the samples so far are from London cemeteries and some Danish ones.
But as this study has suggested there are often downsides - like an increased likelyhood of RA and Crohn's Disease in this case.
Interesting, I read an article in the Guardian reporting the link between autoimmune conditions and the black plague.
My cousin third Amanda writes about this sort of thing as a forensic archaeologist working in ancient diseases and modern diseases. She many years ago told me about the link between Marsh Ague (malaria I think) and Cystic Fibrosis. She wrote a book about it and how families like mine have a gene that is affected because hundreds of years ago we had malaria and if we survived some protection was passed down etc. I only know that years later I was diagnosed with Brochectasis which is the Cystic Fibrosis gene but turned off. I'm not sure of all the medical implications but I do know I have a pANCA gene which is about nuclear antibodies. Apparently my bit of the family (the direct line and I have the jewellery too lol ) was here from the 13th century in the same village so she needed some blood and I was just glad to help her. It's too complicated for my brain but she almost diagnosed what would happen some 10 years later with RA, chest problems and to be frank it was a it scary. I know she has done some work on Who do you think you are, and her son and my son could be twins in height, colouring facial features and physical build. Weird !
Hi Knip. i read it yesterday, very interesting, so I looked up some other things connected, and found this about the white death.. httpss://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15082117/
Thank you for your reply. I haven't been able to get the link up to read it. Might there have been something after the last forward slash that hasn't been included? It sounds fascinating so I 'd like to read it if you could try posting it again. Take care, Knip.
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