Question: why are some people are more prone to disease that others and why?

Catherine Smith answered on 13 Nov 2018:

It depends on the disease. One of the jobs of an epidemiologist is to look at “risk factors” for disease so that we can understand – at a population level – which people are most likely to get infected, and therefore how best to direct healthcare resources. For example, I have worked on tuberculosis – it is a respiratory disease that is quite rare in the UK. However, among people with a history of homelessness, imprisonment or drug or alcohol problems, the rates are much higher. It is thought that these “socially marginalised” groups live in conditions that make the infection more likely to transmit, and are also less likely to access healthcare services. There are therefore lots of initiatives in places like prisons and homeless shelters to try to reach these people with healthcare services.