A group of scientists from France and Italy will arrive in Peru in January to study the adaptation of the human body in the highest city in the world, La Rinconada, at an altitude of 5,300 meters, in order to find mechanisms that may allow creating treatments against respiratory diseases.
“It is considered that human life is not permanently possible beyond 5,000 (height). The population of La Rinconada constitutes a true challenge to knowledge,” the scientists said.
The team of 14 specialists will study population of La Rinconada, in the Peruvian Andes, which developed in the last two decades around the activity of gold mining.
The experts will carry out for the first time a “comprehensive genetic, biological and cardiovascular phenotype” of the citizens for a month.
The research hopes to generate more knowledge on the defense mechanisms of the human body against the lack of oxygen and improve treatments against respiratory diseases.
La Rinconada is located in the department of Puno and has a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants, who face serious problems of contamination by mercury due to mining.
Source: La Jornada
