African Gene Variant Makes Them More Vulnerable To HIV Infection

Boston (dbTechno) - According to a new study performed by an international team of researchers, black individuals have a gene variant which makes them more vulnerable to HIV infection.

The study was led by Dr. Sunil Ahuja, professor of infectious diseases from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Scientists have found a gene variant, which was in 60% of African Americans, and 90% of Africans, whcih actually makes them 40% more vulnerable to HIV infection.

In the past, there was no sure reason as to why there was such an imbalance in regards to the number of Africans infected with HIV.

11% of the 25 million HIV infection cases in Sub-Saharan Africa were caused by this gene variant.

The study will be published in the Cell Host & Microbe.