Posted on Oct 23, 2022
Black Death survivors gave their descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/10/19/ [login to see] /how-black-death-survivors-gave-their-descendants-an-edge-during-pandemics
When the bubonic plague arrived in London in 1348, the disease devastated the city. So many people died, so quickly, that the city's cemeteries filled up.
"So the king [Edward III], at the time, bought this piece of land and started digging it," says geneticist Luis Barreiro at the University of Chicago. This cemetery, called East Smithfield, became a mass grave, where more than 700 people were buried together. "There's basically layers and layers of bodies one on top of each other," he says. The city shut down the cemetery when the outbreak ended.
When the bubonic plague arrived in London in 1348, the disease devastated the city. So many people died, so quickly, that the city's cemeteries filled up.
"So the king [Edward III], at the time, bought this piece of land and started digging it," says geneticist Luis Barreiro at the University of Chicago. This cemetery, called East Smithfield, became a mass grave, where more than 700 people were buried together. "There's basically layers and layers of bodies one on top of each other," he says. The city shut down the cemetery when the outbreak ended.
Black Death survivors gave their descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost
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Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
The Plague: How Did One Village Survive? | Riddle Of The Plague Survivors | Timeline
Geneticist Steven O'Brien investigates whether a genetic mutation that helped the inhabitants of a village called Eyam in Derbyshire survive the Black Death ...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."By limiting the scope of research to only one small population, the study's findings could also be misinterpreted by the popular media to confirm racist misconceptions about European immunity, says medical historian Monica H. Green, who's studied the Black Death for 15 years.
"There's a general idea, found in a lot of these popularizing essays, books and so forth, that Europeans are immunologically superior to every other population on the planet precisely because Europe has had this long history of exposure to all these diseases, like the Black Death," she explains. "Basically, if Europeans survived, that automatically means that they're the superior race."
She's concerned the findings of this new study will reinforce this idea because there's no data on other populations, such as people in Asia or northern Africa.
"If there's not comparable genetic work on these populations," she says, "then the racists are going to come along and interpret these new findings in any way that they want."
..."By limiting the scope of research to only one small population, the study's findings could also be misinterpreted by the popular media to confirm racist misconceptions about European immunity, says medical historian Monica H. Green, who's studied the Black Death for 15 years.
"There's a general idea, found in a lot of these popularizing essays, books and so forth, that Europeans are immunologically superior to every other population on the planet precisely because Europe has had this long history of exposure to all these diseases, like the Black Death," she explains. "Basically, if Europeans survived, that automatically means that they're the superior race."
She's concerned the findings of this new study will reinforce this idea because there's no data on other populations, such as people in Asia or northern Africa.
"If there's not comparable genetic work on these populations," she says, "then the racists are going to come along and interpret these new findings in any way that they want."
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