Interesting facts about people with albinism (24 photos). Bright representatives of mixing races and nationalities The character of albino guys

Incredible facts

Although people with albinism are often teased or ridiculed, people know little about the condition.

16. In some cultures, albino animals are highly revered. For example, Native Americans honor white bison as a symbol of strength and fortune, protecting them from attacks.

Albinism gene

17. About 1 in 70 people carry the gene for albinism. If both parents have the albinism gene, there is a 25 percent chance of having a child with albinism.

18. For an albino child to be born, he must have faulty genes from both parents. If a child inherits one normal gene and one albinism gene, the normal genes will produce enough melanin.

19. One of the most serious types of albinism is known as Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome... People with this disorder have a predisposition to bleeding, bruising, and lung disease.

20. Vitiligo is another skin disorder associated with albinism, in which only certain areas of the skin lose pigment. Famous people with vitiligo: Michael Jackson and model Winnie Harlow.

21. Albinism is most common among various peoples in central and western Africa. Some evolutionary biologists believe that when we went from primates to hominids and lost most of our hair, the skin under the hair was pale. People who produced more melanin (darker skinned) were thought to have an evolutionary advantage.

If you are not like everyone else, in a primitive society, you are a target. For example, in Tanzania more than 20 albinos have been killed in recent years.

Here are the facts about albinism, along with the photos:

Albinos in Tanzania became victims of beliefs and superstitions according to which the skin, meat and bones of albinos can be successfully used to treat all kinds of diseases. These rumors are sometimes deliberately spread by local healers and gradually began to spread in neighboring Kenya.... In Israel, there was an asylum case for a refugee family from Côte d'Ivoire, where an albino girl was born.

Treatment for albinism is unsuccessful. It is impossible to compensate for the lack of melanin or prevent visual disorders associated with albinism.

It is important for albinos to avoid sun exposure and to use light protection means when going outside: filters, sunglasses or tinted lenses. Melanin usually performs similar functions.

Griffin is the albino protagonist of HG Wells' novel The Invisible Man.

Sometimes albinos need surgery, in particular to correct the oculomotor muscles for strabismus, which is often found in albinos.

In general, albinos have vision problems, such as nystagmus - involuntary oscillatory movements eye high frequency (up to several hundred per minute).

Albinos are also characterized by the absence of pigmentation of the iris (usually gray-blue or light brown) and its transparency.

The red color of the eyes in albino animals is the color of the blood in the vessels of their retina. In albino people, red eyes are very rare, as a rule, there is a shading pigment in the human eye, as a rule, staining the iris in a pale blue or yellowish color.

Due to the hypersensitivity of the skin to the light of the sun, there is an increased risk of developing malignant tumors among albinos.

In the Middle Ages, albino people were burned at the stake, since they were considered the devil's helpers.

Statistics say that "colorless" are born 6 times more often among blacks than among Europeans. For every 3000 black offspring, there is 1 albino.

The albinism gene is recessive. This means that when an unusual child is born, the gene is present in both parents.

People with albinism live long and healthy lives just like others. The biggest danger to them is skin cancer, which develops more easily due to exposure to solar radiation.

People with albinism synthesize vitamin D five times faster than people with dark skin. Since vitamin D is produced when UVB rays hit the skin, the lack of pigmentation means that light penetrates much more easily.

One or another form of albinism is, on average, in 1 person in 17,000. In men, ocular albinism is more common - the absence of pigment in the eyes.

One of the most serious types of albinism is known as Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome. People with this disorder have a predisposition to bleeding, bruising, and lung disease.

Some people born with less severe albinism have white hair and skin that darkens slightly with age.

Scientists can test if parents have an albinism gene by looking to see if a hair follicle produces melanin.

Although people with albinism are often teased or ridiculed, people know little about the condition. What causes albinism? Does this lead to some kind of disease? There is a lot of speculation and prejudice about people with albinism. Here are facts to help dispel some of them.

11. Some babies born with less severe albinism have white hair and skin that darkens slightly with age.

12. There are also other pigmentation disorders such as erythrism (excessive red pigmentation), xanthism (yellow pigmentation) and vitiligo (loss of pigmentation in certain areas of the skin).

13. One in 17,000 people has some form of the albinism gene. Although it can occur in both sexes, ocular albinism, the absence of pigment in the eyes, is more common in men.

14. Throughout the world, people with albinism often face bullying and harassment. This is often due to the bias that they are cursed or that their body parts have healing powers that are used by healers.

15. Albinism can occur in any vertebrate in the animal kingdom.

16. In some cultures, albino animals are highly revered. For example, Native Americans honor white bison as a symbol of strength and fortune, protecting them from attacks.

Albinism gene

17. About 1 in 70 people carry the gene for albinism. If both parents have the albinism gene, there is a 25 percent chance of having a child with albinism.

18. For an albino child to be born, he must have faulty genes from both parents. If a child inherits one normal gene and one albinism gene, the normal genes will produce enough melanin.

19. One of the most serious types of albinism is known as Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome. People with this disorder have a predisposition to bleeding, bruising, and lung disease.

But also ordinary people, whose faces are a kind of visual aid that practically every person has at least one or two mixed races and nationalities.

But the travel photographer Jimmy Nelson had a unique opportunity to capture vivid portraits of various representatives of nationality and culture in his works.

And it is not at all surprising that most of the pictures were included in the author's book entitled "Until They Disappeared", because in the photo before the viewer, warlike men and specifically beautiful women appear in all their glory, whose traditions, rituals and way of life, for the majority of modern people still remains a mysterious secret.