HIV immunity?

[denny]

Doctors say they want to investigate the case of a British man with HIV who apparently became clear of the virus.

(yoinked from harlot_rouge)

Comments

[skx.livejournal.com]

Surely "HIV recovery"? After all they've already idenfied several people who appear to be immune.

(On the basis of them having contact with the virus and not getting infected; SF gay men, and ... umm .. prostitutes somewhere? I'm hazy on the details, but I seem to remember it having something to do with Black Death survivors?)

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

Certain populations have a deletion mutation in a specific chemokine receptor which the HIV virus requires to infect cells (the CCR5-delta32 allele). It is mostly prevalent in European and North African populations (10% or so I believe in Europe) and provides resistance to HIV if homozygous (and some protection if heterozygous). The Black Death connection comes from the work of some people who believe that the Black Death was not caused by Yersinia pestis (bubonic plague), but by some fomr of haemorrhagic fever virus... these viruses often use the same receptor to infect cells and hence there would have been selective pressure for the CCR5-delta32 allele in areas affected by the Death. This view is controversial, and many people believe that the selective pressure probably came from smallpox or similar, but I'm at least semi-convinced by the Black Death / viral story.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

*looks for the "+1, informative" mod option*

Thanks for that!