Gene research has the potential to vanquish major diseases which plague the world鈥檚 poorest countries, says a new report from the World 午夜福利1000集合 Organization. Current research on genes is expensive and often targeted at diseases prevalent in the rich countries.
But through genetic screening programmes, for example, it could be possible for poorer countries to produce fewer children with distressing and costly inherited conditions such as blood anaemias.
The biggest long term hope for the poor is in tackling AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, the 鈥渂ig three鈥�. Together these kill many millions of people each year. WHO expects the search for vaccines and new drugs against these killers to accelerate now that the genetic blueprints of the organisms that cause them are available.
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鈥淕enomics does allow you to see which genes are important to these beasts, and so which ones to target, which means you can develop vaccines and drugs much faster,鈥� says David Weatherall, professor of genetics at the University of Oxford and author of the report. Weatherall acknowledges that this will take time, however, and that drug companies spend least on diseases of the poor.
Halved medical bills
Early benefits could be simple genetic screening programmes to reduce the numbers of babies born with crippling hereditary conditions, such as the common inherited disorders thallasaemia and other anaemias, which can only be treated with frequent blood transfusions.
Already, screening has helped countries such as Cyprus to wipe out such diseases, halving the country鈥檚 medical bill at the same time. 鈥淭here are virtually no babies born with thallasaemia in Cyprus now,鈥� says Weatherall. And in Brazil, gene tests to identify bloodborne bugs which cause Dengue fever and leishmaniasis have already paid dividends.
Weatherall acknowledges that genomics is hardly an option in countries already struggling to deliver conventional healthcare. 鈥淏ut if you establish simple genetic services, they could be built on as further opportunities arise,鈥� he says.
But Weatherall also warns that terrorists could potentially use genetic knowledge to turn relatively harmless bugs into bioweapons. 鈥淚t really has to be watched,鈥� he says. This fear was echoed in new proposals for control of biological weapons from the UK Foreign Office on Monday.
There are also the dangers of eugenics, says Weatherall. What social pressures would mothers face, for example, to undergo screening for certain genetic traits? And would women with the 鈥渨rong鈥� genes end up without husbands in countries with arranged marriages, he asks?
