Posted on 08/31/2007 4:39:31 PM PDT by blam
Source: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Date: August 31, 2007
Disease Resistance May Be Genetic
Science Daily — According to a study in Evolution, resistance to certain infectious diseases may be passed genetically from parent to child. The genetic resistance may be beneficial to families as those with the gene are both unlikely to suffer from disease and unlikely to carry the disease home. Paul Schliekelman, author of the study, says the research was inspired by personal experience after catching stomach flus from his daughter three times over a six-month period.
Schliekelman used mathematical models to calculate the possible effect of “kin selection” on natural evolution. “Natural selection is typically seen as ‘survival of the fittest’, but in this case it might be more accurate to say ‘survival of the fittest families,’” says Schliekelman.
His research led to the following conclusions:
There exists a strong tendency to catch infectious diseases from family members. If a relative has a gene that gives resistance to a disease, it would benefit other relatives because they would be less likely to catch the disease. Genes that offer resistance to infectious diseases will tend to cluster in families. Therefore, the resistance genes in a family help each other out and natural selection in their favor can be dramatically increased. This model may prove useful in understanding the spread of deadly diseases and may alter the long-term natural selection of certain genes in a population. Studying the genetic behavior of these diseases could be an important step towards understanding the evolutionary history of infectious disease resistance.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Interesting. I have often wondered at my own happy blessing of never getting the flu. It may be coincidence but I wondered if it had to do with my great-grandmother passing away from the flu while my grandfather was just two months old and breastfeeding. Could she have passed along a resistance to her descendants? BTW, I’m in my fifties.
I seldom get sick either. Usually once every 5 years or so a bug will hit me hard. Also I think there’s the fact that I don’t let minor illnesses slow me down.
Damn, I was taught this as a small child in grade school when we discussed how the Native American population lacked the genetic resistance to small pox that the European’s had.
Darn every now and then someone with an education figures out that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Could be. I have heard that the immune system needs exercise in the form of minor infections in order to stay in top form. So many people nowadays run for the antibiotics the moment Junior sneezes that I wonder if the main population has a wimpy immune system.
Forgot to mention, although I seldom get sick, my “resistance” seems to be specific. I do get bronchitis occasionally but I don’t do flu. Not sure why.
Sure would be nice if they could eradicate it.
True. I can’t remember the last time I took anything other than my daily asprin.
I’ve questioned friends who are always sick and constantly medicated. I ask if they’re really medicated because they’re sick or are they sick because they’re medicated.
I’ve never had the flu and haven’t been sick in 62 years.
The last time I had anything was when I had the German Measles when I was 8.
Oops! (We already knew this didn't we?)
When I was 28 I almost died 3 or 4 times from the flu - since then I don’t get sick. I have problems with my ears, infections and ringing when I’m sick. Doctors don’t know how to figure it all out. I say my ears are hurting but they look for other problems. I don’t get fevers but feel bad when my ears hurt.
I never get a sore throat. Never have any stomach problems. I don’t get colds except for every 3 years or so and have minor sniffles. No flu bug ever bit me since 1972 but people in my family get it often.
I think that getting so sick from the flu that you almost die really strengthens your immune system.
I have just undergone a two week stay in a local hospital because of my attempt to be another Evel Knievel (eight broken ribs, three in two places, a collapsed lung and a broken arm). the doctors kept asking what prescriptions I am using and they had a hard time accepting ‘none’.
My grandparents all lived past their 87th birthday when the average life expectancy was about 55.
My wife’s family has a similar history. She also has needs no regular prescription.
BTY, I am 71 and my wife is 67 and as an aside we have been married 50 years as of this past May... Yep I was a cradle robber but I signed the paper first...
Can I get a million dollar grant to study my family's health history??? We do get a complete checkup every twelve to eighteen months...
“Could be. I have heard that the immune system needs exercise in the form of minor infections in order to stay in top form”
Repair plumbers rarely get sick, except for hangovers.
Same here. I come from hardy stock, and we don't go to doctors unless there's a bone protruding, pus oozing, or some sort of lump. I can never understand people who go whimpering to the doctor every time they get a runny nose or vomit a few times. It's like they're just eagerly waiting for an excuse to call in sick and go whine to someone and get some pills.
LOL! That pretty much sums it up.
Interesting...I’ve never gotten the flu, pneumonia, or chicken pox and neither did my parents. (With the exception of my mom getting pneumonia once). My family has no history of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity either. Never broken a bone and neither have my parents. We’re just lucky to be an extremely healthy family, I guess. With the exception of my dad’s thyroid disease which he passed on to my sister.
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