Hi RedRock,
If you have a copy of Dr. Clark's book, “Why Arthritis?” he also talks about this and the low incidence of RA in certain parts of Africa. He commented that this was due to the soils being rich in streptomyces, the organism from which tetracyclines are made. As Africans traditionally use clay pots made from these soils, he suggested that the fermented foods in them soak(ed) up the organisms….but could well come from the grains stored in the clay vats, too.
http://product.half.ebay.com/Why-Arthritis_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ690785
Dr. Harold Clark was the researcher who worked alongside Dr. Brown. 🙂
Peace, Maz
PS. The article says,
“The discovery, by anthropologist George Armelagos and medicinal chemist Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.”
This info is actually incorrect and if this anthropologist is making the claim to this discovery, he's way off base, as this this has been known for a long time and is not new information! Also, Paratek Pharmaceuticals have been working very hard to create a non-antibiotic tetracycline, with just its disease-modifying properties, believing this is the reason why tetras work so well for rheumatic and other AI diseases, like MS, so well. However, this doesn't account for the “herxheimer,” experienced!