Thanks Ric, I found the story:
People at riskWhy swine flu is sweeping through our native population
by Kate Lunau on Thursday, July 16, 2009 3:40pm
"Among Canada’s native population, many of the health problems that might up the risk posed by H1N1—including obesity, which seems to stress the lungs, and diabetes—are widespread. Among a U.S. sample of 268 people hospitalized with H1N1 infection, 15 per cent had diabetes. Meanwhile, the prevalence of diabetes among Canada’s First Nations adults is four times higher than the general population. And the obesity rate of First Nations adults living on reserves is more than double that of the general population.
Based on their high infection rates, some experts wonder if First Nations and Inuit people may be more genetically susceptible. Banerji’s work identified Inuit race as an independent risk factor for hospitalization with a lower respiratory tract infection: although up to 20 per cent of the general population are non-Inuit on Baffin Island, where her study was conducted, all the hospitalized children were Inuit. “It suggests to me there is a genetic component,” she says, although this still hasn’t been proven."
