Quote:
Originally Posted by sally
thank God i'm white
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the mutations that are protective against HIV are rare in all populations, if they're somewhat more rare in one population compared to another, it really wont have a major effect on the nature of the epidemic in that population.
The study mentioned in the article only looked at one of the genes that are protective against HIV. There are several but this one is the best studied. Anyway, this gene happens to have a maximal prevalence of about 15% (in Western Europeans). In all other populations it is very rare. But even in Europeans, the CCR5 delta 32 is only signficantly protective against HIV in 2% of the population, those who inherit two copies. People with one copy have a slower progression to AIDS, but they do develop AIDS and die of it like anybody else who becomes HIV positive
its more complicated than that but the basic idea is that sexual practices, drugs, social conditions, and healthcare delivery systems are the main drivers of the AIDS epidemic in the world. Genetics plays a very small role
ws