Have you ever wondered why you seem to be sick all the time? Or even considered why your next door neighbour seems to recover from illnesses within a few days? Well, you might want to blame your genes for that.
Due to the variations in genetics in all human, the period of time in which each one of us having a disease may also vary. Disease experts have discovered that if people carry a high risk gene, they have eight times more chance of obtaining a severe and prolonged disease. 300 immune responses from people who were diagnosed with acute glandular fever and their genetic variations in five cytokines, protein hormone messengers of the immune system were analysed. Around 80 of these people were found to acquire these lengthy diseases more easily and result in spending more time at home trying to recover. In addition, they were unable to perform their normal tasks and duties due to these prolonged illnesses.
Dr Vollmer-Conna, from University of New South Wales, believed that these new findings may assist in identifying people with more vulnerability to illnesses and provide individualised and effective treatments in preventing serious illnesses. In some cases, these findings may even be able to save lives.
The original article can be found here:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,24731941-1702,00.html
Posted by Chia-Fen Tu (42022002)
