Scientists Solve Puzzle of Black Death’s DNA
After the Black Death reached London in 1348, about 2,400 people were buried in East Smithfield, near the Tower of London, in a cemetery that had been prepared for the plague’s arrival. From the teeth of four of those victims, researchers have now reconstructed the full DNA of a microbe that within five years felled one-third to one-half of the population of Western Europe.If you thought cloning 30 foot tall carnivorous predators was a good idea, you'll love this one. Yes! Let's bring back the Black Death! Now, in all seriousness, I know that there are laboratories that have active strains of smallpox and other deadly diseases, and that strict precautions are taken whenever research is done on such virii. Having the genome sequenced allows us to more thoroughly study the virus itself - and figure out ways to stop it, as well as strains that have evolved from it.
The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, is still highly virulent today but has different symptoms, leading some historians to doubt that it was the agent of the Black Death.
Once again, Hollywood factors into the equation. How many movies have been based on some apocalyptical "end of the world" scenario brought about by some odd strain of virus or other biological agent? The good part is that those accounts are almost always significant departures from reality - any viral agent that killed its host within days would not have sufficient time to spread as shown in the movie, and any agent that worked on a slower scale can be combatted relatively effectively. We hear horror stories about ebola and flesh eating virii, but those make news based on the rarity - flu deaths number in the thousands and we treat them like victims of car accidents. It's terrible for those involved, but part of the generalized risk we take in society.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out; I suspect it will fade from view as the reality is shown to be far more science than science fiction. We won't see some mutant supervirus felling entire cities within days; it won't be used as some biological terror agent; it will become another genome in a library of genomes that talented scientists utilitize to further facilitate research and treatment of other like diseases.
Or maybe they'll find the cure for cancer. Or baldness...
That is all.
8 comments:
Jay,
Get yourself a copy of "The Hot Zone" -- it will make your blood run cold.
- Brad
Silly. Mad science means never having to ask "What could possibly go wrong?"
Wait. This is normal science?
Uh, oh.
Well, it's also worth pointing out that back when the plague was killing all those people, they didn't have antibiotics. Or a germ theory of disease. Or effective sanitation.
Kind of changes the risk profile, when you factor that in.
That's why the Soviets worked to decrease Ebola's lethality while keeping it's infectiveness.
Matt: Understatement of the week(month? year?)
Back then they thought being filthy protected from diseases.
If you read a little further about the early findings, it seems the "black death" isn't especially more lethal than many other infectuous diseases, but it's lethality was greatly enhanced by the generally terrible diet common during the European middle ages (common right up to the mid 18th century). Those infected apparently suffered systemic collapse when their bodies consumed themselves fighting the infections effects.This is thought to account for the 24 hour killer reputation; victims became infected earlier, but didn't show obvious signs due to the generally sickly (not to mention filthy) normal appearance.
All good info to know, but resurrecting a "dead" disease is still kinda iffy seeming.
Per the article, its not a virus, but a bacteria. And with the advances in both personal hygiene and public sanitation, as well as pest control (the primary transmission vector for the plague has long been presumed to be rats) the likelihood of the disease being widespread are slim. Add in modern medicine, and I'd bet money that it would be no worse than your average flu season.
That said, messing with old DNA can be stupid dangerous. I'm excited about the potential discoveries, but I always bear some concern when they mess with the very materiel of life.
I'd be a lot more worried about there was some sort of economic crisis going on and there was a possibility my city government might become be too broke to pay for rat control...
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