Dengue Fever and the Quandary of Race

摘要

An analysis of the dialogue surrounding historical and current dengue incidence, prevalence, morbidity and mortality reveals that race is defined as a risk factor influencing host immune response. African descendent populations in the Americas are often highlighted as having an innate resistance to severe dengue infection. This paper explores this hypothesis and, using a historical, epidemiological and immunological perspective, attempts to evaluate its viability. This multidisciplinary approach elucidates the need to proceed cautiously in any research searching for correlations between biological racial characteristics and disease. It emphasizes that the investigation of the hypothesized African descendent population dengue resistance be approached from the perspective of dengue while at the same time acknowledging variation within a population that has historically been oversimplified.View full textDownload full textKeywordsDengue, ethnic disparities, genetics, immunology, history, African descendent populationsRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17442222.2011.617590