Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group HLA-B27+ is a wonderful gene

Thank you very much Kat! Taken at Drayton Manor (a theme park) when I was looking at a map with Benjamin. You'd never guess who the photographer was ...

Warm hugs backatcha,
J

wow something good comes from all of this.
When I found out I was HLA-B27 positive and in so much pain I would never have thought that being HLA-B27 positive could be a good thing.

Thanks for that.

lets all immigrate to africa and breed out AIDS!

Hello Majest,

I recall this being posted here a few years back, I can not recall if poster had links to studies etc...

Thanks for posting this.

Tim

Sure, Dean, except I'm guessing that, like me, you're sitting there quietly cursing and saying, "If only I'd known that when I was young enough to REALLY enjoy the knowledge!" Finding out I've got all this great immunity just four years before I get my AARP card hardly seems fair, does it?

I'm just sayin' . . .

Brad

Thats awesome! No wonder I hardly ever get sick.

I did a quick Google of "HLA-B27 AIDS immunity" and got lots of interesting his, Tim. Checked out a few so I could understand the connection a little better, and I have to admit I had never heard of this benefit to having the B27 antifen. Interesting stuff.

Brad

I attended a National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society symposium here in the UK several years ago.
One delegate took the opportunity to speak on this subject and if I remember rightly he said HLA-B27 was a great gene to have during the years of the Bubonic Plague in London (1563 and 1665) because those with HLA-B27 had a greater chance of surviving.

I also remember a post on KA several years ago mentioning the Haida people, a far Northern population where 50% are HLA-B27 positive (compared with only 7% in the Caucasian population); again because those with HLA-B27 had a greater chance of surviving - but this time of surviving the small-pox epidemics. OK so loads of them have AS, but to paraphrase a wise old Italian friend of mine, AS is something that happens to living people.

Our pre-contact population was in the
tens of thousands in several dozen towns
dispersed throughout the islands. During the time
of contact our population fell to about 600, this
was due to introduced disease including measles, typhoid and smallpox.
http://www.haidanation.ca/Pages/Haida_Nation/History.html

(By the way, the gene also leads to people having a great sense of humour, a caring attitude and a soaring intellect. You only have to read this forum to see that! )

Cheers,

Darn Brad,

If I'da known when I still had four years till AARP, I'da been doin' somethin' about it. Heheh

But no, Alan had it right. I would have been in trouble with my heart and the lying and probably wouldn't have had the energy to keep at it. The AS fatigue keeps us honest.

Dean

I really hope this is true! It is pretty much the only thing my kids got from me ...