St. Patrick's Day and Celtic Curse in 2026

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Adapted from photo of St. Patrick's Day parade in Moscow, 2012, by Кирилл Сергеев (Kirus.ru), licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported[](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). Added text: St. Patrick's Day! A good day to check your Celtic genes

St. Patrick's Day has always struck me as a wonderful annual opportunity to raise awareness of the most common genetic illness afflicting people with Irish genes: haemochromatosis, sometimes referred to as 'Celtic Curse' because it puts you at risk of absorbing too much iron and thus damaging vital organs and joints.  

Symptoms of genetic haemochromatosis (GH) range from chronic fatigue to joint pain, memory issues, abdominal pain and skin conditions. If not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner GH can lead to very serious long-term health complications and death. GH affects people of all ages and genders. Although some doctors still think of GH as a male condition, women suffer from it too, notably at or after perimenopause and menopause (FYI: in America GH is referred to as HH for Hereditary Hemochromatosis) 

St. Patrick's Day 2026 is a particularly good time to raise world awareness of hereditary haemochromatosis because we know more about its Celtic origins than ever. In February, we got a new map of the frequency of the genetic risk across Britain and Ireland. This is based on a landmark scientific study published in Nature.

As you can see from the copy of the map that I have pasted here, the highest frequencies are in Ireland and Northern Ireland, but there are elevated frequencies in parts of Scotland and England. Basically, if your family history includes links to these areas, you owe it to yourself to learn about hemochromatosis (ways to do that listed are at the bottom of this post). 

The study does more than broadly map the frequency with which the genetic mutations behind the iron overload occur in Britain and Ireland.  It is also details hotspots, like Glasgow and Liverpool, and states that: "Discrepancies between genetic risks and prevalences of clinical diagnoses for Birmingham, Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham suggest under-diagnosis in these regions."

And the report calls for action: "We show heightened genetic risk of haemochromatosis in people of Northwest Irish and Hebridean ancestry and suggest health-economic modelling of community screening should be targeted to these priority areas."

President Barack Obama visits the Dubliner, an Irish pub in Washington, D.C., with his Irish cousin, Henry Healy, center, and Ollie Hayes, a pub owner in Moneygall, Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama with his Irish cousin

Of course, you might be thinking: I'm not actually Irish so genetic haemochromatosis is irrelevant to me, I just like celebrating St. Patrick's Day for the fun of it. 

But bear in mind, the genetic defect that causes haemochromatosis has been around in Ireland for at least 5000 years. And people from Ireland and Scotland emigrated to other countries for many centuries. 

Today there are patients with genetic haemochromatosis all around the world. After all, who can forget St. Pat's Day 2012 when President Obama had a pint with his Irish cousin Henry Healy. They are both descendants of Falmouth Kearney, Obama's great-great-great-grandfather from Moneygall, County Offaly.

So, have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day, 2026, but take a moment to think about your health and your genes, and maybe learn a bit more about genetic haemochromatosis.

Take care — Stephen

Learn more about genetic haemochromatosis:

Here is a link to the new study: The landscape of hereditary haemochromatosis risk and diagnosis across the British Isles and Ireland.

And here are organizations around the world to help you:

Irish Haemochromatosis Society

Haemochromatosis UK

Haemochromatosis Australia

Canadian Hemochromatosis Society

Hemochromatosis USA

Many other countries - courtesy of CHS


Location: Coventry, UK

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