What is the relationship between sickle-cell disease and malaria?

Answer 1

G6PDD does not protect against malaria infection. People with G6PD Deficiency can still get it like anyone else. The malaria larva has to have mature red blood cells to live in and cannot survive in immature ones. An rbc's normal life span is 120 days, but due to hemolysis, many do not live this long. The faster death of rbc's also causes the malaria larva to die as well. There are two problems with this. The first is obvious as hemolysis (death of rbcs) also causes us problems. Although G6PD Deficient people are spared the severe symptoms of malaria, they have to weather hemolysis and must rely on their ability to make new rbcs. The infection is still sequestered in their liver. The second is that there is no anti-malarial medication that is friendly to G6PD Deficient people.

Malaria is dangerous and precautions should be taken to avoid infection. Anti-malarials are not an option. You can learn more about this at g6pddeficiency.org.

Answer 2

Every person, assuming no inheritance abnormalities, receives two copies of a gene, one from their mother and one from their father. Sickle cell is a mutation in the hemoglobin of red blood cells.

A sickle-cell carrier is when you inherit one normal gene and one mutated or sickle cell gene, and sickle-cell anemia is when you inherit two mutated genes.

The carriers are selected for in populations where malaria has a high frequency. It seems that having one gene but not the other allows carriers to have a higher survival rate with malaria than those who do not carry the sickle-cell gene.

So, essentially, sickle-cell disease causes a person to be immune to malaria, due to the shape of the red blood cells, and their inability to become infected with the plasmodium pathogen causing malaria.

Answer 3

G6PD or galactosemia.The baby is not able to metabolized galactose in the body causing mental retardation.Soy milk is recommended for this babies.