SECRETS OF THE DEAD: THE MYSTERY OF THE BLACK DEATH (TV)
Summary
One in this series of science documentaries investigating historical mysteries and phenomena. This episode explores the Black Death and its surprising biological relevance to modern-day plagues.
In 1347, twelve Genoese ships arrived in Sicily carrying hundreds of sailors dead or infected by a strange new illness, and the deadly bacteria, spread by flea-infested rats, swept through Europe and arrived in London in 1348. The pandemic, identifiable by raging fevers and telltale boils, was a mixture of pneumonic plague, which was nearly always fatal, and bubonic plague, which killed 50-60 percent of victims, resulting in somewhere between 75 to 125 million deaths worldwide. When one person fell ill, doctors in birdlike masks filled with herbs would quarantine the sick individual's entire family for 40 days, almost certainly condemning them all to death. Wondering what allowed some to survive when so many millions died, geneticist Dr. Stephen O'Brien heads to Eyam, a small village in Northern England with an unusual story. With the town positioned far from trade routes, the plague finally came to Eyam in 1665 via an infected parcel; when the village was soon quarantined, it was presumed that the entire population would soon die. However, records suggest that about half of the town somehow survived, making it a statistical anomaly.
One hypothesis suggested that Eyam actually suffered an outbreak of anthrax, not the Black Death, and simply confused the similar symptoms. This is disproven when records don't show a spike in livestock deaths, which would have occurred with anthrax. Historian Justin Champion then finds that cramped and dirty conditions in cities did not lead to significantly more deaths than in small rural towns like Eyam. O'Brien, learning of some unusual cases in which individuals who were extensively exposed to the plague somehow did not fall ill, guesses that a genetic component was at work. He talks with various Eyam residents whose ancestors survived the Black Death and tests their genetic makeup; after explaining how the plague bacteria "hitches a ride" on one's white blood cells to attack the immune system, O'Brien and his team discover that a significant 14 percent of Eyam descendants have a mutation know as Delta-32 on their CCR5 genes.
Worldwide tests then reveal that the Delta-32 mutation rose sharply around the years of the plague, as those who had it were more likely to survive and procreate. Furthermore, O'Brien finds that those with two copies of the mutation were unlikely to become sick at all, while those with one had a far better chance of fighting off the bacteria than those with no mutation at all. Turning to modern-day consequences, Steve Crohn describes losing many friends and lovers to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s but repeatedly testing negative himself despite having engaged in similar risky behavior. Eventually, he decided to undergo medical tests, and it was soon confirmed that he, too, has two copies of the Delta-32 mutation. Thanks to his European ancestors, he therefore had "total resistance" to HIV, even when his cells were repeatedly and strongly exposed to the virus in a lab setting. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: May 17, 2002 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:75007
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Education/Information; Black Death; Pandemics; Genetics; HIV/AIDS
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 2000-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Beth Hoppe … Executive Producer
- Justine Kershaw … Executive Producer
- Jared Lipworth … Series Producer, Writer
- Margi Kerns … Producer
- Emma Whitlock … Producer, Director
- Jennifer Beamish … Associate Producer
- Neil Arthur … Music by
- Jim Heffernan … Theme Music by
- Michael Montes … Theme Music by
- Liev Schreiber … Narrator
- Justin Champion … Interviewee
- Steve Crohn … Interviewee
- Stephen J. O'Brien … Interviewee