"The PBS program called "Secrets of Death, Mystery of the Black Plague" discussed the latest research on the bubonic plague and its relationship with the AIDS epidemic. The bubonic plague struck Europe beginning in the year 1347 and when it finally came to an end, one third of the Europeans were dead. The bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. It attacks the body by invading the white blood cells and using them as a host to breed in. This is very unusual because the white blood cells are the cells that fight off bacterial and viral infections.
The mortality rate for the bubonic plague was very high. It was almost an instant death sentence. But some individuals showed full or partial immunity to the disease. Research by Dr. Stephen O’Brien (National Institute of Health) showed a correlation between this immunity and a mutated CCR5 gene, delta 32. This mutation prevented the plague from entering the individual’s white blood cells.
AIDS has some similarities to the Black Plague, more than just the lethality rate. AIDS tricks the immune system using the same pathways as the plague bacterium, targeting and taking over the white blood cells. Like the bubonic plague, some individuals possess full or partial immunity to the AIDS virus. This small group of HIV long-term non-progressors represents approximately 5% of the population. Dr. Bill Paxton (Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center) showed the blocking mechanism that prevents the AIDS virus from binding to the white blood cells was – you guessed it – delta 32.
Now comes the big question.
Could an immunization inoculation against the black plague also provide an immunization to the AIDS virus? Wasn’t Cow Pox used to provide immunization against Small Pox? Plague vaccines have been used since the late 19th century. In the 1970’s, I joined the U.S. Air Force. At Basic Training, I was given an inoculation for the bubonic plague. A small portion of the U.S. population received this vaccination. What percentage of the individuals that have been exposed to HIV and who still remain negative to symptoms were immunized against the bubonic plague?"