Here a new hydrolysis-probe-based real-time PCR assay was designed to ascertain CCR5 allele frequency in 53 individuals from a 10th- to 12th-century CE church and convent complex in central Germany that predates outbreaks of the Black Death pandemic.
This makes the Maltese population ideal for testing the hypothesis that the Black Death (particularly that of 1346-52) was responsible for a genetic shift that spread the CCR5-Δ32 allele.
The later hyperinflammatory phase is partially MyD88 dependent and ineffective in the lungs but controls systemic infection and reduces the progression of secondary septicemic plague.
Furthermore, like the type I IFN response, TLR7 contributed to the lethality of septicemic plague and was associated with the suppression of neutrophilic inflammation.