Gene Mutation May Explain SARS Epidemic:
A genetic susceptibility may explain why SARS raged last year in Southeast Asia and nowhere else in the world outside of Toronto, Taiwanese researchers reported this week.They found a certain variant in an immune system gene called human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, made patients in Taiwan much more likely to develop life-threatening symptoms of SARS.
The gene variant is common in people of southern Chinese descent, the team at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei reported.
There is another viable theory involving selenium deficiency. China has one of the most highly populated selenium-deficient regions in the world. Selenium deficiencies promote virulence in viral and bacterial pathogens, and viral susceptibility in humans and animals. SARS was not the only viral disease to “rage” in Asia and attenuate after coming to the US. It might be interesting to examine whether the attenuation is different 1) on the two island of New Zealand, only one of which is severely selenium deficient, and 2) between South Dakota (the selenium capital of the US) and the Pacific Northwest (whose basalt is selenium deficient).