IX. The hereditary blood factors of the Yemenite and Kurdish Jews

Abstract

Blood specimens were collected in the Negev, Israel, from 75 Yemenite Jews and 121 Kurdish Jews, who were also subjected to a variety of measurements and physiological tests. The specimens were tested for the antigens of 10 blood group systems, for the genetic variants of four systems of plasma proteins and of eight systems of red-cell enzymes. The gene frequencies calculated from the results show that these two Jewish populations differ widely from one another genetically. The Yemenite Jews show a rather close resemblance to the Yemenite Arabs. The Kurdish Jews show a fair resemblance to the indigenous Kurds of Iran, but differ markedly in having a very much higher incidence of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. As there are reasons for thinking that, in general, a high incidence of this deficiency results from natural selection in response to endemic malarial infection, the marked difference between Kurdish Jews and the indigenous Kurds who were for many generations their close neighbours is difficult to explain.