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Plague genome
I have read that scientists have reconstructed the plague genome from the dental pulp and bones of plague victims buried in London. If the disease killed people in an average of three days, how come there was enough DNA in their teeth and bones to get this result? Could it be that some people were able to harbour the disease for quite a lot longer than three days?
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The plague organism is a living organism and as Buenchico says can be distributed throughout the body tissues.
When the host dies and then the organism dies, the DNA chemistry which in the true sense is not alive, lives on and can be recovered and identified, years later.....perhaps even hundreds of years later.
There is little evidence from reports that i have seen that the plague could remain in the human body....unannounced so to speak without producing symptoms.
When the host dies and then the organism dies, the DNA chemistry which in the true sense is not alive, lives on and can be recovered and identified, years later.....perhaps even hundreds of years later.
There is little evidence from reports that i have seen that the plague could remain in the human body....unannounced so to speak without producing symptoms.
It depends on what is meant by the Plague. The plague involved in the HIV resistence was not a bacterial type but a viral haemorrhagic fever.
http://www.eurekalert...-03/uol-bdw031005.php
http://www.eurekalert...-03/uol-bdw031005.php
//The other thing I found fascinating was the article said that compared with modern plague, the disease had hardly changed in 660 years.//
In the earlier days there were no modern medicines so the organisms had no reason for mutations to become more productive as the then present form was quite successful.
In the earlier days there were no modern medicines so the organisms had no reason for mutations to become more productive as the then present form was quite successful.
The presence of antibiotics has certainly pushed organism to change. However some recent finds of ancient preserved bacteria has revealed they already posessed genes for resistance to completely synthetic antibiotics that had never been present in nature.
Bacteria are incredibly highly evolved organisms with an amazing ability to quickly adjust their details to the environment no doubt because of their arsenal gene variants.
Selection pressures quickly bring these genes into the fore but it has also been discovered that the presence of poisons in their environment actually stimulates the organisms to increase its mutation rate. This is also a key to their adaptibility.
One change that is almost universal in infectious diseases is the propensity to reduce their virility over time. A host that keeps walking is better for transmission. It would be interesting to see the how the genes of modern samples compare with the early and late varieties of the plague.
There have been relatively few case of the plague over the past few centuries to give it an opportunity to change its genome. This is one of the advantages of widespread vacination. It denies the opportunity for the development of new strains that can be resistant to antibiotics.
Bacteria are incredibly highly evolved organisms with an amazing ability to quickly adjust their details to the environment no doubt because of their arsenal gene variants.
Selection pressures quickly bring these genes into the fore but it has also been discovered that the presence of poisons in their environment actually stimulates the organisms to increase its mutation rate. This is also a key to their adaptibility.
One change that is almost universal in infectious diseases is the propensity to reduce their virility over time. A host that keeps walking is better for transmission. It would be interesting to see the how the genes of modern samples compare with the early and late varieties of the plague.
There have been relatively few case of the plague over the past few centuries to give it an opportunity to change its genome. This is one of the advantages of widespread vacination. It denies the opportunity for the development of new strains that can be resistant to antibiotics.
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