The Milk Drinker's Curse

HueyLong

Banned
[Inspired by a thread in FH]

For with the flow and ebb, its style
Varies from continent to isle;
Dry shood o'er sands, twice every day,
The pilgrims to the shrine find way;
Twice every day the waves efface
Of staves and sandelled feet the trace.
-Sir Walter Scott, OTL

June 8, 793

The abbey of Lindisfarne continues on in its routine for yet another day.

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The Warming Origins of the Plague


All titles and content ranslated into OTL English for the convenience of the Crosstime Research Board

The plague which would eventually ravage all of Europe began inconspicuously with the warming of permafrost in Scandinavia in approximately the middle of the eight century AD.

This warming period which seemed a boon to the peoples of Scandinavia (and population records indicate it was, at first) brought with it an unknown bacteria, long caught in the ice. This bacteria, labeled the Lactic Plague or more popularly, the Milk-Drinker's Curse would reverse the temporary population growth of Scandinavia and in fact, almost completely depopulate these northern lands.

The southern lands of Scandinavia, moderate in climate and more productive than the rocky fjords (which relied mostly on fish), relied almost entirely on cattle as a food source (for cheese, milk and beef). They were the first to expand during the Warming period. It was the expansion of their cattle into newly thawed lands that would see the plague's rise into history.

[Thoughts? Somewhat ASB, but its better than posting it there. Here's the inspiration thread. Basically, this bacteria fools the body into accepting it as lactose and proceeds from there.]
 
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Here is a map I found on lactose tolerance:

LactoseTolerance.png


When poking around the web I read that this could be called lactose perseverance. Babies are lactose tolerant but the tolerance is turned off in most humans as they mature. So even babies who are not genetically disposed to become lactose intolerant when they grow up may die from your disease if exposed when young.

You need to decide some things about this disease. How is it transmitted? Are lactose intolerant adults carriers? What is the incubation period? and so on.
 
Lactose tolerance is decided by lactase, which allows you to break down lactose. A mutation has opped up that made people who had it to keep producing lactase post baby-phase, and thus had the side-effect of enabling them to drink milk on a later age.

The 'solution' could be just as simple as some kind of syndrome or virus that counteracts that mutation.
 

maverick

Banned
Interesting...if somewhat odd...

So this happens way earlier than the original black plague...(fun thought: this is a white plague)...depopulating northern europe at this point and erradicating the vikings will surely have interesting effects in the history of the region, particularly without Viking invasions, Viking Britain and no settlement or discovery of Iceland...
 
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