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Published online 11 March 2005 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news050307-15
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Did Black Death boost HIV immunity in Europe?
Experts argue over whether smallpox or plague should take the credit.
Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to have had an unexpected benefit - leaving 10% of today's Europeans resistant to HIV infection.
But epidemics of which disease? Researchers claimed this week that plague helped boost our immunity to HIV, but rival teams are arguing that the credit should go to smallpox.
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