Genetics of infectious diseases

So what does a flu blog have to do with ‘genetics’ and ‘infectious diseases’?

Well, if you’ve been following this blog for the month of April, you’ll notice that I began expanding the topics to include other infectious and viral diseases that would be in recent news.

With the Gene Genie challenge of blogging on genes and gene-related diseases, now wouldn’t it be cool to talk about the genes that predispose certain individuals and groups to these viral diseases – HIV, malaria, leprosy, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), sinusitis, herpes and others.

Yup. There may be genes responsible for getting certain persons susceptible to catching a virus, bacteria or parasite.

For example, the gene for sickle-cell anemia protects against malaria. The gene is recessive, meaning one has to carry both alleles for a person to have sickle-cell. But even those who just have one allele (called carriers) are still protected against malaria.

There are also genes that protect certain individuals against a some strains of HIV. Yes, if you have these particular genes, you may not get HIV.

Leprosy is another infectious disease, a chronic condition that affects more than 300,000 people each year. Two genes are strongly associated with this disease, and a person’s risk of getting infected with leprosy increases if one carry either gene.

Now the flu. See, so that’s why it’s very important for scientists to study the H5N1 outbreaks in humans. It’s a virus, and there are places in our cell that the virus uses to enter, reproduce and wreak havoc. We need to find genes that protect us against the influenza viruses. Are there any? That’s a good question.

Interesting, huh.

Tags: flu, viruses, health, genetics, infectious diseases

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