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It only needs an opportunity...

The Activities of Yersinia

Know your enemy: The Evolution of a Species

Antiqua - plague pandemic 6th Century

Contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire

Medievalis - Black death

Wiped out a minimum of 40% of Europe

Orientalis - Current Plague

Yersinia pestis has shaped human history.

Demographic of Crossrail Victims

Genus: Yersinia

15 species under Yersinia

Only 3 of them pathogenic to mammals

Y. pestis

Y. pseudotuberculosis

'Charter House 25'

18 - 45 Year Olds

3 Women

13 Men

NATURAL SELECTION - ON A DIFFERENT SCALE.

In epidemics, natural selection favors the perpetuation of genetic variants that help individuals to better resist while individuals who are genetically susceptible succumb to the disease.

The black death may seem like a distant past...

But you carry the mark inside you

Why a discrepancy?

Genetic Sexually Dimorphic response to the bacterium?

Socially dictated?

All plague [Y. pestis] strains around the world are capable of causing human disease, and if conditions were right, would probably be capable of causing these large pandemics again,” - David Wagner

The Hygiene Hypothesis

The accepted explanation as to why there is so much auto immune disease in the developed world and virtually none in the developing world.

The altering of our genes, forever.

BUT WHAT IF WE'RE WRONG.

What does this mean?

The black death wiped out a huge amount of Europe. If you're of European descent then you will hold the mark of 14th Century disaster within your genome.

The science-ey terms:

Convergent evolution of immune related genes in Europeans during the black death possibly lent protection against subsequent exposure and led to a susceptibility to auto - immune diseases.

Recent historical periods in Europe have been characterized by severe epidemic events such as plague, smallpox, or influenza that shaped the immune system of modern populations.

The Culprit

Case Study

aDNA has confirmed Yersinia pestis...NOW WHAT??

"It is the truth universally acknowledged, that Yersinia pestis caused the black death...."

Identified as Yersinia pestis

DNA match of 14th Century strain of the bacterium

Minor sequence variation

Evolved in/near China

several genes under evolutionary pressure in European/Romanian and Rroma/Gipsy populations

Fact File - Yersinia pestis

The black death was a natural selection event on a huge scale.

This was nature recapturing our species.

This was another species, capturing ours.

S.E. Aisa

Anaerobic bacterium

Infects humans and animals

Three main forms:

Pneumonic

Septicemic

Bubonic

Can be used as a bioweapon

Africa

South America

Europe

Ancient Plague, Modern Menace.

Not a 'thing of the past'

Yersinia pestis vs Humanity

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