BIOGEOCHEMICAL AVAILABILITY OF DIETARY SE POSSIBLE ETIOLOGICAL DETERMINANT OF VIRAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES (VIDs)

Biomolecular research finds micronutrient Se-deficiency (<1 uMol Se/liter in blood) common to the epidemiology of Coxsackievirus B2 cardiomyopathy, influenza, and poliovirus. When mapped regions low in Se bioavailability from soils (Oldfield Se Atlas 2002) was overlain with etiological origins of various diseases, regardless of etiology, resulting correlations were stark: pandemic influenzas (1957 Asian, 1968 Hong Kong, Avian H5N1) and SARS originated in east and central China “Guangdong”, Qinghai, and Hubei Provinces, respectively; whereas, HIV and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola Z) originated in west central sub-Saharan Africa Cameroon and Gabon, respectively. Each of these diseases is viral in origin, infectious, and transmissible.

Sparse data, from literature, indicate nutritional Se in these regions can fall substantially < 1µMol Se/L in blood requisite for full expression of immune system regulation: east central China, 0.18-.32 µMol Se/L; Nigeria, 0.73; DRC, 0.28-.62; Burundi, 0.2; Zambia, 0.49; and Malawi, 0.57; compared to US average of 1.5 µMol Se/L blood. Diets in these regions are low in dietary Se (~10 mcg Se/d), compared with the USDA RDI of 55 mcg Se/d. These data suggest constraints, possibly geologic and biogeochemical, which limit dietary Se necessary to achieve 1µMol Se/L blood for immunocompetence and VID inhibition.