The story of asthma island.

Tristan da Cuhna is the most remote inhabited island in the world. Over half of the islanders suffer from asthma - this is 6 times the ratio of anywhere else in the world. In 1961 the inhabitants had to evacuate the island when a volcano erupted on the island. When they arrived in the UK they were encountered by Noe Zamel who, realising they all had asthma, began to research them. 40 years later he is still involved with the island community. After research which led him to trace the genetic lineage of every person on the island, he became convinced that it was the genetic constitution of the islanders that caused their asthma. He isolated a gene, ESE-3, which regulates the amount of collagen in the airways - too much of it can be a contributing cause of asthma. This was a major scientific breakthrough and opened the door to further research around the world.