Genetic HIV Resistance Deciphered

hexed_2050 writes "Researchers have pin-pointed the reason why some people have a greater immunity, or in some cases, total immunity to the HIV virus. They credit a genetic defect that can be traced back to Europeans in the middle ages."

Comments

I did say "nearly universal"

[Lonesome Squash]

This is a recessive mutation (ignoring partial immunity for a minute). The truly-immune percentage of the population will be the square of the gene frequency. Let's say that AIDS begins to recede when 36% of the population is immune. For 36% of the population to be immune, 60% of the genes will need to be the mutated variety. At that point only 16% of the population will be carrying two non-mutated genes. Okay, maybe I exaggerated the "not many generations" but the point stands.

This is the opposite of the recessive extinction problem, where the percentages work against you (that's why deleterious recessives thrive so well when they are rare).