Researchers find genetic trait that increases HIV danger for blacks

[XemaSab]

An international team of AIDS scientists has discovered a gene variant common in blacks that protects against certain types of malaria but increases susceptibility to HIV infection by 40 percent.

Researchers, keen to find some biological clues to explain why people of African descent are bearing a disproportionate share of the world's AIDS cases, suspect this subtle genetic trait - found in 60 percent of American blacks and 90 percent of Africans - might partly explain the difference.

Ten percent of the world's population lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, but that region accounts for 70 percent of the men, women and children living with HIV infection today. In the United States, African Americans make up 12 percent of the population, but account for half of newly diagnosed HIV infections.

"The cause of this imbalance is not necessarily driven by behavior," said Phill Wilson, founder of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. "Gay black men do not engage in riskier behavior than gay white men, for example. African people with this gene may have a higher vulnerability."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/BARI11PM03.DTL&tsp=1

[dbackjon]

1. Interesting article - thanks for posting

And conversely, some Europeans (and of European hertiage) have a genetic variation that makes them less likely to be susceptible, according to recent research.

[XemaSab]

2. Genetics are interesting

I've heard before that sickle cell protects against malaria.