Certain people have a higher probability of contracting infectious leprosy due to their genetic load
Certain people have a higher probability of contracting infectious leprosy due to their genetic makeup, scientists have discovered. From a study conducted among 500 families living in southern India, it appears that a genetic effect was found that explains why leprosy tends to be inherited in families.
Geneticists are now looking for the specific sensitive gene, which may one day lead to new treatments for a disease that has tormented humanity for a long time. The disease of leprosy was identified already in ancient times in China, Egypt and India and was first mentioned in ancient writings about 600 years BC.
The bacterium that causes leprosy is transmitted through close contact with people infected with the disease. Leprosy can be cured in the early stages, but the lack of treatment may cause irreversible damage to the skin, nervous system, limbs or eyes. In 98 of the world's countries they succeeded in eradicating the disease, but around the world there are still about 800 thousand cases of leprosy, half of them in India.
Doctors have noticed for a long time that the disease tends to run in families, even though it is caused by a contaminating external factor. For the first time, the researchers were able to find a certain genetic link, focused on a specific stretch of DNA
News agencies
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