Alpha(+)-thalassaemia and malarial anaemia

Ina Danquah1, Frank P Mockenhaupt

  • 1Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Spandauer Damm 130, 14050 Berlin, Germany.

Trends in Parasitology
|September 11, 2008
PubMed

The mechanisms by which alpha(+)-thalassaemia protects against severe malaria, and severe malarial anaemia in particular, are poorly understood. A recent report proposes that the increased count of microcytic and hypochromic erythrocytes in alpha(+)-thalassaemia reduces the haemoglobin decline during acute malaria and, thus, reduces the risk of anaemia. This mechanism might add to further alpha(+)-thalassaemic attributes that are involved in the attenuation of anaemia caused by both acute and chronic Plasmodium infections.

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