Absence of the HIV-1 protective Delta ccr5 allele in most ethnic populations of India

Recent epidemiological data and projections indicate that HIV infection wil l spread rapidly in India. An allele Delta ccr5 of the beta -chemokine rece ptor gene CCR5 has been found to confer protection against HIV-1. We find t hat this protective allele is absent in most ethnic populations of India, e xcept some populations of the northern and western regions where this allel e may have been introduced by Caucasian gene flow. The implications of this finding are discussed in the light of increasing HIV prevalence in India.