Eyam

A few links to follow up on stories from today. More on the plague outbreak in the village of Eyam here and here.

The CCR5 story has attracted quite a lot of attention. Some argue that it was more likely to be smallpox than the black death that altered the gene frequency and others have shown that the mutant form of CCR5 does not appear to offer protection against the plague, in mice at least.

Previous posts of interest:

• The Plague as a Biological Weapon
• The Great Chinatown Fire
• Flagellation in German rock video