Gene might underlie travelers’ diarrhea
By Nathan Seppa
From Toronto, at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Having a particular form of the gene that encodes the natural compound lactoferrin could predispose some people to travelers’ diarrhea, a study finds. Normally, lactoferrin binds to some bacteria, thwarting their capacity to cause disease.
Roughly 40 to 60 percent of U.S. visitors to Mexico get diarrhea, usually from ingesting viruses or bacteria such as Escherichia coli, salmonella, and shigella, says Jamal A. Mohamed, a molecular biologist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. In search of genetic factors common to these individuals, Mohamed and his colleagues identified 718 people from the United States while they were on short-term stays in Mexico between 2002 and 2005.