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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Apr 8.
Published in final edited form as: Q Rev Biol. 2019 Dec;94(4):333–394. doi: 10.1086/706768

TABLE 6.

Early evidence of infectious disease and pathogen-resistance genes

Disease Place, date Species Protective gene candidates
Choleraa Ganges delta, 5 KYA Vibrio cholerae NF-κB, cAMP-mediated chloride secretion blood group
Leprosyb Sub-Sahara, >10 KYA Mycobacterium leprae TLR1 gene, CYLD
Nematodesc,d Ancient Europe-Western Asia Soil and meat-borne: whipworm Ascaris; roundworm Trichuris ApoE4
Plaguee Eurasia, 5–3.5 KYA Yersinia pestis, modern; many candidate pathogens CCRΔ32
Small poxb Africa, 15–70 KYA Variola virus CCRΔ32
Gonorrhea Africa, >100 KYA Neisseria gonorrhoeae Siglec-16g
Malariab Africa, >100 KYA Plasmodium falciparum Duffy, G6PD deficiency, α+ thalassemia, hemoglobin C, CGYPA/B/C-deficient erythrocytes
Malariaf Africa, 22 KYA P. falciparum Hemoglobin βS, sickle cell mutant