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Genetic Control of Resistance to Mycobacterial Infection

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Genetic Control of the Susceptibility to Bacterial Infection

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 124))

Abstract

The idea of heredity in tuberculosis was widely accepted even prior to the discovery of the tubercle bacillus in 1882. There are several lines of evidence which strongly suggest that host genes controlling the innate resistance or susceptibility to this disease do exist in humans (Schweitzer 1961). The first line of evidence rests with the changing patterns of resistance in ethnic populations and other identified groups exposed to the mycobacteria over generations. It has been well established that initial exposure of populations to tuberculosis is associated with high mortality rates which decrease significantly with subsequent generations. On genetic principles, exposure over many generations should lead to death of susceptible individuals with survival of those who are genetically resistant. When tuberculosis was first introduced into the Qu’Appelle Valley Indian Reservation in Saskatchewan the annual death rate from this disease reached 10% and over one-half of Indian families were eliminated in the first three generations. After 40 years and three generations, most susceptible individuals apparently died and the annual death rate had been reduced to 0.2% (Motulsky 1960). The presently high resistance of Western populations to tuberculosis is genetically conditioned through natural selection during long contact with the disease. The decline in tuberculosis mortality had begun before discovery of the tuberculosis organism and before medical measures were taken and probably is partially due to selective mortality of susceptible members of the population.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Montreal General Hospital, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1A4, Canada

    E. Skamene

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  1. E. Skamene
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Pediatrics, Cellular Immunobiology Unit of the Tumor Institute, USA

    David E. Briles Ph.D.

  2. Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294, USA

    David E. Briles Ph.D.

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Skamene, E. (1986). Genetic Control of Resistance to Mycobacterial Infection. In: Briles, D.E. (eds) Genetic Control of the Susceptibility to Bacterial Infection. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 124. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70986-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70986-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-16238-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-70986-9

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