Your risk of getting an infection is determined by your immune genes.
Gene Is Linked to Deadly Runaway Fungal Infection
For most people, a fungal infection like athlete's foot means a simple trip to the drugstore and a reminder to bring shower shoes to the gym. But in very rare cases, fungal infections can spread below the skin's surface and onto the lymph nodes, bones, digestive tract or even the brain. Researchers from The Rockefeller University and Necker Medical School in Paris have now discovered a genetic deficiency that allows the fungus to spread in this way, a condition called deep dermatophytosis. Their work suggests why treatments for fungal infection sometimes fail, and it gives weight to a genetic theory of infectious diseases, which proposes that a single genetic defect can cause an otherwise healthy person to become severely ill from a minor infection -- be it viral, bacterial or fungal.
