Indians highly susceptible to HIV/AIDS
Scientists say that Indians infected with the AIDS virus are more likely to contract the disease than people in the West, the BBC reported.
Scientists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences say that Indians have lower resistance to the virus because they have genes that hasten the disease. The study conducted over two years included 200 people with HIV infections and 2,000 healthy people.
The results found that a gene linked to rapid progression from HIV infection to AIDS is "two-and-a-half times" more common in Indians than a "protective" gene.
They also found that a "protective variant" whose major function is to attract immune cells to sites of infection was not present among Indians.
India says more than five million of its citizens are infected with the HIV virus, second only to South Africa. Activists say the number of Indians affected by HIV/AIDS is much higher than the government figure.
But the Indian government says there is no need to panic as only 0.5 percent of Indians have been infected, compared to 2.1 percent in Thailand and 2.3 percent in South Africa.
Scientists say that Indians infected with the AIDS virus are more likely to contract the disease than people in the West, the BBC reported.
Scientists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences say that Indians have lower resistance to the virus because they have genes that hasten the disease. The study conducted over two years included 200 people with HIV infections and 2,000 healthy people.
The results found that a gene linked to rapid progression from HIV infection to AIDS is "two-and-a-half times" more common in Indians than a "protective" gene.
They also found that a "protective variant" whose major function is to attract immune cells to sites of infection was not present among Indians.
India says more than five million of its citizens are infected with the HIV virus, second only to South Africa. Activists say the number of Indians affected by HIV/AIDS is much higher than the government figure.
But the Indian government says there is no need to panic as only 0.5 percent of Indians have been infected, compared to 2.1 percent in Thailand and 2.3 percent in South Africa.
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