Minority health and small numbers epidemiology: a case study of living conditions and the health of children in 5 foreign Romá camps in Italy.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to test methods for generating epidemiological evidence on health conditions of small, dispersed minority communities. METHODS: We used community-based mixed methods including a cross-sectional survey in 5 purposely selected settlements of Khorakané Romá (Gypsies of Muslim culture) in Italy to study the living conditions and health status of children aged from birth to 5 years. RESULTS: In the 15 days prior to the survey, 32% of the children had suffered diarrhea and 55% had had a cough. Some 17% had experienced respiratory difficulties during the past year. Risk factors associated with these outcomes included years spent living at the camp, overcrowding, housing conditions, use of wood-burning stoves, presence of rats, and issues related to quality of sanitation and drains. Qualitative information helped define the approach and the design, and in the interpretation and consolidation of quantitative results. CONCLUSIONS: Guided by the priorities expressed by dispersed minority communities, small studies with little resources can provide a solid base to advocate for evidence-based participatory planning. Exact intervals appeared to be robust and conservative enough compared with other intervals, conferring solidity to the results.

Mitochondrial DNA diversity of the Roma from northeastern Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This study is the first report on the mtDNA diversity in the Roma population from Bosnia. The main aim of this study was to analyse the mtDNA diversity in the studied population, evaluate the genetic relations with other European Roma populations, and analyse the influences of the Roma gene flow on the mitochondrial profile of the Roma from northeastern Bosnia. MtDNA variability in the analysed population has been studied by means of hypervariable segment I and II (HVSI/II) of the control region sequencing and analysis of restriction fragment-length polymorphisms of the coding region. Our results show that genetic structure of the Roma from northeastern Bosnia has a combination of lineages of three main layers: specific founder of Indian origin (M5a1 and M35b) and founder non-M lineages of Indian/European origin (H7a, X2b and X2d) and lineages of European/Middle East origin (H, H1, H11a, V, T2b, K1b and W). The distribution of the haplogroups in the gene pool of the comparative European Roma populations indicates the separate origin of the Bosnian Roma and the Bulgarian Vlax and Croatian Vlax Roma. The data suggest that mitochondrial gene pool of the Roma population from northeastern Bosnia might be a consequence of early parting and the later different migration routes that are part of their demographic history. Our data confirm the high genetic heterogeneity of the Roma populations that can be shaped by effects of genetic drift, isolation and low effective population size, and this correlates with the migratory history of the Roma.

[The geography of denominations of gypsies from the Indus to the Ibar]. / Zur Geographie der Zigeunerbenennungen vom Indus bis zum Ibar.

Among the numerous, to some extent rather different denominations which the gypsies received from their individual hosts on their apparently entangled migration ways from their aboriginal Indian home to the west, in the far and wide reaching countries spreading between the valley of the Indus and the region of the sources of the river Ibar, the northern liguistic frontier of the Albanian language, 2 larger denomination areas can be encircled. The 1st circle is characterized by the names of the type gebti in Persian, and KIptI in Turkish, resp., the 2nd circle by the denominations of the type Cingene in Turkish, and (a)tsinganos in Greek. The boundaries of both denomination circles run along a line which extends on all sides in equal short distances from the northwestern western, resp., and southwestern boundaries of nowadays Iran with one exception, namely of one part of the eastern frontier of Turkey where the denomination boundary is pushed forward in a comparatively far reaching loop to the west. On both sides of this boundary-line there accidentally occur some denominations which in view of their place value assert themselves only little and are to be ascribed to the respective other denomination circle. On the basis of these facts, an attempt has been made to bring these peculiarities of denominations into causal relationship with two enormous and disastrous situations in the life of the ancestors of nowadays occidental gypsies, namely with the invasion of the Huns in India in the 5th century A.D. and the Mongolian assault in the Iran in the 13th century A.D. These 2 events brought about further historic migration shifts of the border overflowing extent. At present, the so-called gypsies of India have only little in common with the gypsies of Europe although certain features of like shape especially in their stock of words are unmistakable.

Mutation history of the roma/gypsies.

The 8-10 million European Roma/Gypsies are a founder population of common origins that has subsequently split into multiple socially divergent and geographically dispersed Gypsy groups. Unlike other founder populations, whose genealogy has been extensively documented, the demographic history of the Gypsies is not fully understood and, given the lack of written records, has to be inferred from current genetic data. In this study, we have used five disease loci harboring private Gypsy mutations to examine some missing historical parameters and current structure. We analyzed the frequency distribution of the five mutations in 832-1,363 unrelated controls, representing 14 Gypsy populations, and the diversification of chromosomal haplotypes in 501 members of affected families. Sharing of mutations and high carrier rates supported a strong founder effect, and the identity of the congenital myasthenia 1267delG mutation in Gypsy and Indian/Pakistani chromosomes provided the best evidence yet of the Indian origins of the Gypsies. However, dramatic differences in mutation frequencies and haplotype divergence and very limited haplotype sharing pointed to strong internal differentiation and characterized the Gypsies as a founder population comprising multiple subisolates. Using disease haplotype coalescence times at the different loci, we estimated that the entire Gypsy population was founded approximately 32-40 generations ago, with secondary and tertiary founder events occurring approximately 16-25 generations ago. The existence of multiple subisolates, with endogamy maintained to the present day, suggests a general approach to complex disorders in which initial gene mapping could be performed in large families from a single Gypsy group, whereas fine mapping would rely on the informed sampling of the divergent subisolates and searching for the shared genomic region that displays the strongest linkage disequilibrium with the disease.