The effect of the Black Death is that it is easy to develop diabetes, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis

by Matt Clarke/McMaster University

A study was announced that modern people are susceptible to autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis due to the bubonic plague that raged in the 14th century, commonly known as the `` black death ''.

Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death | Nature

Diabetes, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis traces their roots back to the Black Death - Study Finds
https://studyfinds.org/autoimmune-disease-black-death/

Studying the Black Death at McMaster University on Vimeo


A team of researchers from Canada's McMaster University, the University of Chicago, and the Pasteur Institute has identified immune-related genes for the Black Death that swept the 14th-century epidemic, revealing genes that once protected against the disease. , concluded that it is associated with an increase in modern autoimmune diseases.

The research team extracted DNA samples from the bodies of those who died before the Black Death, those who died from the Black Death, and those who survived the Black Death. We examined signs of plague-associated genetic adaptation caused by Yersinia pestis.

As a result, it was found that four genes are involved in the production of proteins that protect the body from invasion of pathogenic bacteria, and distinguish whether it protects the body from the plague or becomes susceptible to the plague.

At the time of the Black Death epidemic in the 14th century, people living in Europe had not been exposed to the plague bacillus for a long time, so they had little resistance to plague. After that, the death rate steadily declined as pandemics occurred many times. Related to this is a gene called `` ERAP2 '', and people with ERAP2 had a 40% to 50% higher survival rate than those who did not.

However, ERAP2 is also a gene that is prone to autoimmune diseases, and the fact that many people with ERAP2 survived the black death has led to the fact that modern people are prone to autoimmune diseases. It should be noted that ERAP2 did not change, and it is thought that the risk of autoimmune disease was not a problem at the time when the Black Death was prevalent.