Talk:Eyam

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Questioned images moved here for discussion - WBardwin 02:31, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Source for HIV Statement

Can we please get a source for the remark concerning AIDS immunity? Mostly it's for my own curiosity, but I'm sure others will want to know where the statement came from. --Impaciente 20:21, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

• [1]. PBS series - listed as one of the external links. I believe there has been "print" on the topic as well. WBardwin 22:46, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

• The article says: "In fact, the levels of Delta 32 found in Eyam were only matched in regions of Europe that had been affected by the plague and in Americans of European origin." This is an almost worthless statement: The rest of the UK is also in Europe and yet didn't it is implied that it didn't have the same levels of Delta 32. Furthermore if the population of all Americans of European origin have the same levels of Delta 32 then what significance is there in this? It doesn't make sense, and looks like the author is trying to say something else, but not sucessfully. Regarding the HIV immunity: there needs to be a proper distinction made between AIDS and HIV. One cannot have "immunity" from AIDS, which is a syndrome. You can be immune to a virus, in this case HIV. Furthermore, from reading the source of this claim it can be seen to be speculative at this stage. The article should therefore mention this is speculation. --Anonymous 13:35, 24 February 2005 (UTC)

• I don't know about any of the other research, but I am one of the descendants spoken of in the article, I live in Eyam and my ancestors survived the plague. We had a TV crew come and take saliva samples and they rang us up a few months later telling us that we were immune to the Plague, HIV and AIDS. They said that if both our parents had this immunity, then we could get the plague, and we would get sick, but we would survive. Alternatively, if both our parents were immune, we could get the illness and survive it without even seeing symptoms. The program was broadcast in 2002 on BBC but I forget what it was called. It did have an explanation of the immunity, something about how the plague and HIV/AIDS attack the body in the same way, and this was the reason for the immunity, something about hijacking white blood cells if my memory serves me correctly.--Santahul 18:38, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I saw the program for a second time and the point, as I understand it, is that Eyam was a relatively ideal test case for the hypothesis that a rare genetic mutation amoung the entire European population became more prominent due to the massive die off during the Black Death. So--

• Eyam's unique history of voluntary quarantine,
• moderate survival rate, and

*the tendency for survivors and their descendants to stay in the village and marry other villagers,

enabled the scientists to isolate this gene mutation. Then they were able to look for the mutation in other areas of the world, and found it only in descendants of people in Europe during the appropriate plague period, in varying percentages of the population. So -- Eyam's population is not unique in its percentage of immunity, but is only unique due to the inadvertant "laboratory" conditions for the research effort. Can anyone can say this more concisely in the article? This not very concise or clear. Best........WBardwin 03:09, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed Unverifiable Information

Just about to remove this in reference to the Plague section:

"The cloth was opened by the tailor's assistant, George."

Pursey 10:14, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Still fear that this is unverifiable, but I'm not going to remove it again, lest start an edit war. Pursey 10:27, 11 October 2006 (UTC)