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The bacteria responsible for pneumonic and bubonic plagues are introduced. Everyone who came in contact with the bacteria was expected to die, but surprisingly, not everyone did.
 Play Video Clip 1
Questions:
- What percentage of a particular town was expected to die from the plague? Calculate how many survivors there would be in your classroom or school if it were infected by the plague.
- Why was quarantining a household considered a death sentence?
- What did historian, Justin Champion, discover?
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This clip tells the amazing story of a town that beat the odds against the plague. See how the northern England village of Eyam survived its yearlong quarantine.
Play Video Clip 2
Questions:
- How was the plague introduced to Eyam?
- How did the villagers survive the quarantine?
- Was the rector's decision to quarantine the village a wise one? Explain your answer.
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Dr. O'Brien hypothesized that if the immunity to the plague was genetic, the plague survivors would have passed that immunity on through their descendants. He went to Eyam to find out.
Play Video Clip 3
Questions:
- On the cellular level, how does a normal plague infection take place?
- What was O'Brien's hypothesis about the mutated CCR5-D32 gene?
- To test O'Brien's hypothesis, what evidence was collected and how was it collected?
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Research into the origin of the CCR5-D32 mutation indicates that the mutation came about 700 years ago -- about the same time of the plague outbreaks. This is the same mutation that O'Brien found in his research on AIDS immunity.
Play Video Clip 4
Questions:
- What is the scientific explanation for those who survived the plague?
- What were the three possible outcomes of a person who is exposed to the plague bacteria?
- Why is this important to modern-day scientists?
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