Croatian medical journal
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Croatian medical journal · Feb 2009
Historical ArticleHistoric, demographic, and genetic evidence for increased population frequencies of CCR5Delta32 mutation in Croatian Island isolates after lethal 15th century epidemics.
To assess the frequency of 32 base pair deletion in CCR5 (CCR5Delta32), which has been shown to confer resistance to HIV infection in a homozygous form, in 10 isolated island communities of Dalmatia, Croatia, with different histories of exposure to epidemics during and since the medieval period. ⋯ Our results and historical evidence, suggest that the mid-15th century epidemic could have acted as a selection pressure for the CCR5Delta32 mutation.