Once upon a time (about 20 years ago), a friend of mine told me that there was a town or family of people, in England or maybe Scotland, who somehow possessed immunity to bubonic plague, and these people were used to collect the dead.
I'm not sure how you could be immune to a bacteria.
Is there any truth to what he told me? If so, is there a book or article you could recommend for further reading.
I am not aware of the historical accuracy of your friends anecdote but modern knowledge of Immunology states that it is possible to be immune or unaffected to bacterial infections.^1 Why immunity to diseases[from bacteria] occurs varies from person to person, bacteria to bacteria, and individual to individual. Factors such as age, hygiene, and diet improve immune response to infections. Death due to the Bubonic Plague is not much different from the Native American response to smallpox and influenza which killed roughly 90% of the native population.^2
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