If your anscestors survived the black death then your anscetors would have a certain blood type to prove that?

Question

I heard that if you have a certain blood type then it is a sign that your ancestors had survived the black death. I know I heard this somewhere and I cant find it anywhere. What are the type of blood should you have in order for this to be true?

Where I put anscestors the second time I mean you

Answer 1

I'm going to try and reply to your question in a manner as close to layman's terms as I can without taking away from the substance of my response.

First off the medical name for the black death or plague, is Yersinia Pestus. (Yersin was the name of the man who discovered it). It is a bacterium that invades the body that can cause a condition known as septicemia. (A poisoning and destruction of the blood-cells) It comes from rat-flea bites, and in some cases is transferred airborne by mucus coughed up by an infected person/animal.

Pathogenic Y. pestis produce two anti-phagocytic (phagocytosis is a way that white blood-cells have of destroying germs and bacteria. Think of the character "Pac-Man" chomping his opponents and you have phagocytosis.) components; F1 antigen and the VW antigens. These are required for virulence ( The ability to survive in a unfavorable environment.) and are only produced when the organism grows at 37°C (98.6°F or normal human body temp.), not at lower temperatures. This explains why the bacteria does not kill their alternate host, the flea, which has a body temperature near 25°C (80°F). This also explains why the black death did not fair well in Sweden, Norway or Finland. (Cold icy climates.) Moreover, the bacteria are capable of surviving and multiplying within monocytes (a type of blood-cell also known as a leukocyte, part of the human body's immune system that protects against blood-borne pathogens), but not PMNs, (polymorphonuclear leukocytes) and upon emerging from the monocytic host, the bacteria possess their F1 and VW antigens.

NOW.......... If your ancestors became infected with Y. Pestus (The Black Death) and they survived, They may have passed down their F1 and VW antibodies to you, giving you some "resistance" to the disease, but not immunity. (You could still catch it, just possess the ability to fight it off better than some others.) Antibodies specific for the F1 and VW antigens are opsonic (a product of complement activation in blood serum that causes bacteria or other foreign cells to become more susceptible to the action of phagocytes) and confer immunity by enhancing phagocytosis ( the Pack-Man thing) and intracellular killing by PMNs. (polymorphonuclear leukocytes)

Two of your respondents got it close, one mentioned genetic transference, the other referred to the ABO blood system. Resistance is placed in the ABO system "BY" way of the genes. I seem to recall a dominate blood-type in people of Nordic heritage, but don't recall the specific type. But that is inconsequential to the transference of genetic antibody resistance. This type of resistant transference is more a matter of evolution and natural selection, just as people who have ancestors that come from certain parts of Africa where malaria is endemic may possess hemoglobin S which gives them natural resistance to malaria, (The malaria bacterium requires a well oxygenated environment, which hemoglobin S does not provide.) the drawback of this is those who possess this also have a genetic trait and lack the Duffy antigen (FY*O allele) which is associated with Sickle Cell disease. A consequence of natural selection.

Thanks for bringing this question up. It made me put my thinking cap back on for a bit.

Answer 2

Types Of Black Death

Answer 3

Not a blood type, but perhaps a special, or mutated, gene. I say this because I have seen several documentaries hypothesizing that theory, not only for the Black Death, but also for TB.

Currently scientists are exhuming skeletons they hope they can determine died of the Black Plague to compare with skeletons from the same period of people who did not. Then if they can extract DNA and do gene sequencing they might be able to determine the reason for a natural immunity.

On the TB side some mummified bodies were discovered in Budapest in an old crypt and it was obvious that some had died of TB. They also found one which showed signs of TB, but the person had recovered and lived to a very old age. They are trying to isolate genes to discover why this woman was able to survive a disease that had killed many of her family and neighbors.

So, in answer to your question, if they are ever able to isolate the gene you could maybe determine someday if you had that gene, but I'm not sure you could be sure you inherited it from an ancestor, rather than just developing the mutation on your own.

Answer 4

The reason you can't find it anywhere is because it isn't true.

The Black Death had nothing to do with blood types at all.

A little lateral thinking would resolve your problem.

Clearly all the people alive today in Europe had ancestors who survived the Black Death. There are many different blood types amongst Europeans today, therefore all of these blood types must have survived the Black Death. Ergo - it is not down to blood type.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Well, the blood type(A+, B+, AB+, O, etc) has nothing to do with the survivability from the black death. The white blood cells are the bodies defense mechanism angainst diesase and bacteria.

If your ancestors got the plague and then survived it, then their blood would have antibodies to the plague in it and they would be unlikely to catch the plague again. These new antibodies could be passed down through genes to someone today, who through a blood test, not blood typing, you might be able to determine if their ancestors got and survived the plague.

whale

Answer 7

The Black Death had nothing to do with blood type so I doubt their is a test for this.

Answer 8

I can't say I know, but I would assume drinking your blood would only place certain parts of the drank blood into your system. I imagine it would alos take far to long nor be efficient enough. You need it to be injected directly into the vein.

Answer 9

I heard that people whose ancestors survived the plague lack certain receptors which let some viruses enter, and this gives them an immunity to these viruses, including HIV. They examined the blood of the villagers of Eyam in Derbyshire, which was struck down by the plague in 1665, and the results seemed to confirm it.

Answer 10

it's very simple. do any of your ancestors come from Europe? if so, they survived the Black Death.