People often remark at how strange and wonderful it is that chimpanzees are so similar to humans. The arguments include the immediately obvious (facial expressions, body shape), the not-so-obvious (behavior patterns, physiological phenomena like yawning or hiccuping), and the incredibly inconspicuous (genomic cross-analysis).
However, I find it remarkable that I've come 22 years without knowing just how closely related some of the most potent and diverse diseases in human history are. I'll keep this brief so as to keep your interest, and may report future findings as they come up. Several of these finds can already be found several blog updates below just by noticing the common genera in the nomenclature.
tuberculosis - Mycobacterium tuberculosis
leprosy - Mycobacterium leprae
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1 comment:
I love this stuff. I'm really excited for Animal Planet's soon-to-premiere "Chimpanzee Eden" (Although I don't know how it can top the awesome 'Orangutan Island')
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