HLA-A and hemochromatosis type 1: The predominance of the HLA-A3 associated haplotypes on hemochromatosis chromosomes, and the pattern of their distribution in the world, led Simon et al [5] to propose the founder hypothesis, postulating that the hemochromatosis mutation was a rare event that occurred once on a particular chromosome which was subsequently modified by recombinations involving both HLA-B and HLA-A alleles and population migrations, producing the varied haplotype associations that were described.