Immune diversity (HLA) in 19: COVID-19 outcome disparities in US cities

Transplant medicine matches alleles, not folk races. Use this page to deflate “racial immunity” talk. Human immune genetics is individual and local. Folk races are bad medical categories. Pathogen pressure and mating patterns maintain many alleles. Outcomes track exposure, comorbidity and health systems more than mystical race immunity.

Matching is allelic; ancestry may correlate weakly but clinicians type alleles. See malaria-adaptations — classic selection stories, still not a league of types. Public health logistics beat genetic fatalism. Malaria-adaptations; genetic-structure; race-is-not-biology. Genetic immunology data is sensitive — consent matters.

HLA molecules present peptides to T cells; many alleles mean many presentation styles. Heterozygote advantages are often hypothesized under infection pressure. Linkage disequilibrium complicates stories. Clinical typing beats self-identified race. Allele frequencies differ by region because epidemics and demography differed.