'Black death' offers clues to battling HIV, hepatitis C centuries later

The Black Death swept Europe in the 14th century eliminating up to half of the population but it left genetic clues that now may aid a researcher in treating HIV patients co-infected with hepatitis C using an anti-retroviral drug therapy. A new study will look at the blood samples of nearly 3,000 patients, primarily individuals with hemophilia, who were exposed to HIV during the early 1980s and late 1990s, to see if an inherited genetic variant that protects against HIV might also help prevent i...