A story in The Guardian on the prevalence of Huntington’s disease in Latin America quoted Michael Hayden, a Huntington’s researcher and professor of genetics at UBC.
“It was the perfect scenario for the gene to take hold,” Hayden said, explaining how the gene arrived in Latin America with European sailors during colonization. “People lived in clusters in isolated areas so there wasn’t much migration in or out, cousins married cousins. And, especially early on, you had these large Catholic families.”
The story examines the testing that is occurring as scientists search for a treatment for Huntington’s disease.
