system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can a single, massive-scale epidemic such as bubonic plague or smallpox have a positive effect on the 'gene pool' for humanity as a whole?

I'm posing this question under the asusmption that those at an initial advantage to survive, for example, a bout of plague were at such an advantage because of a 'generally strong immune system'. Is this a moderately accurate assumption, or would one's chances of surviving the plague be more attributable to a genetic advantage unrelated to one's ability to fight off infection in general. (If the latter, then I would assume the answer to my initial query is 'no', other than the benefit of resistance to the plague itself).

edit - doh, title typo.
gpt
>Can a single, massive-scale epidemic such as bubonic plague or smallpox have a positive effect on the 'gene pool' for humanity as a whole?

There's no positive or negative; value judgments are not for genes, genomes, or natural history. But they do exert their effects. Multiple genetic traits are found in the population as a result of infectious diseases: Sickle cell anemia and thalassemia from malaria (definitely), CF from infectious diarrhea (probably), CCR5 deficiency from plague (probably).