01478nas a2200253   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653003800055653002200093653001100115653001200126653001800138653002900156653002800185100001900213700001400232700001100246700001700257245007000274300001100344490000700355520084800362022001401210       2002                            d  c2002 Mar10aGenetic Predisposition to Disease10aGenetic Variation10aHumans10aleprosy10aMycobacterium10aMycobacterium Infections10aTuberculosis, Pulmonary1 aPlancoulaine S1 aAlcaïs A1 aAbel L1 aCasanova J L00a[Human mycobacterial infections: impact of host genetic factors].  a165-700 v573 a<p>Humans are exposed worldwide to a variety of environmental mycobacteria (EM) and most children are inoculated with live Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Although rarely pathogenic, poorly virulent mycobacteria, including BCG and most EM, may cause a variety of clinical diseases. M. tuberculosis and M. leprae are more virulent, causing tuberculosis, and leprosy, respectively. Remarkably, only a minority of individuals develop clinical disease, even if infected with virulent mycobacteria. There is now accumulating evidence that the large interindividual variability of clinical outcome results in part from variability in the human genes that control host defense. We review here in current knowledge about genetic predisposition to common (leprosy and tuberculosis) and rare (BCG and EM infections) mycobacterial infections.</p>  a0370-629X