Polish Christian and Jewish smallpox and tuberculosis mortality among inhabitants of Warsaw

**Peterski** · 10-16-2018, 05:24 AM

Smallpox was responsible for 14% of Christian deaths and as much as 20% of Jewish deaths, tuberculosis for 18% of Christian deaths and only 5% of Jewish deaths. I wonder what caused such differences? There were also some differences between the genders:

^^^ Data from Cezary Kuklo, book "Demographics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth", chapter 8.

**Peterski** · 10-16-2018, 05:26 AM

Could it be that Jews have higher genetic immunity to tuberculosis but lower to smallpox than Poles?

**Anglojew** · 10-16-2018, 11:21 AM

Interesting. Thanks.

**Loki** · 10-16-2018, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Peterski

Could it be that Jews have higher genetic immunity to tuberculosis but lower to smallpox than Poles?

Seems to be... interesting. It's a huge gap in the tuberculosis numbers. Or it could have to do with social factors.

**Anglojew** · 10-16-2018, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Loki

Seems to be... interesting. It's a huge gap in the tuberculosis numbers. Or it could have to do with social factors.

Was there a difference between urban & rural deaths? This may explain the difference?

**Peterski** · 10-16-2018, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by Loki

Seems to be... interesting. It's a huge gap in the tuberculosis numbers.

Jews in the Diaspora have always lived in crowded "ghettos", which is probably how they acquired immunity to it.

I was told by a geneticist that there are genetic variants which influence immunity to tuberculosis and smallpox.

Originally Posted by Anglojew

Was there a difference between urban & rural deaths? This may explain the difference?

All of the data posted is about Warsaw (urban population).

**Sally** · 10-21-2018, 07:45 AM

Jews bury the dead within 24 hours, and one can contract tuberculosis from corpses (smallpox I am not sure about), so perhaps that might have something to do with it (corpses lying around longer have the potential to infect more people).

**Anglojew** · 10-21-2018, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by Sally

Jews bury the dead within 24 hours, and one can contract tuberculosis from corpses (smallpox I am not sure about), so perhaps that might have something to do with it (corpses lying around longer have the potential to infect more people).

Smart comment. Makes sense