(London) A genetic study by French scientists claims that a gene variant spread by Roman legions as they conquered most of Western Europe has made people living in the areas more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

The researchers, from the University of Provence, studied the current genetic makeup of people from modern-day England, France, Greece, Germany and Spain. The results of the study are reported in the journal New Scientist.

The scientists say they found that a gene variant which protects against HIV is missing among segments of the population in the countries they examined within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the frequency of the missing gene, CCR5-delta32, is strongest closest to Rome and weakest the further one is from the center of the Empire.

The presence of the CCR5-delta32 gene is widely believed to offer protection from HIV.

The Roman Empire expanded outward from Rome over 1,000 years. In Italy, Greece and Spain, where the Roman occupation lasted the longest, between 0 and 6 percent of the population exhibit the gene.

But in Germany and England where Roman rule was shortest, between eight and 12 percent of the population have the CCR5-delta32 gene.

People in European countries never conquered by Rome have even greater percentages of the gene.

In their report, the University of Provence researchers say it is doubtful the genetic differences are due to breeding between Roman soldiers and local populations, since military accounts from the period suggest there was little sexual interaction between the two.

Instead, they speculate that the Romans carried a disease into the local populations that destroyed CCR5-Delta32.

In a separate study, scientists at the University of Liverpool also have been researching CCR5-Delta32 and believe it had been more prevalent among people in much of Western Europe, those populations could have better fended off bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, which swept Europe.