Admission of Hb S heterozygotes to a general hospital is relatively reduced in malarial areas.
A comparison between the frequency of Hb S heterozygotes in blood donors, outpatients, and inpatients of a general hospital carried out at the Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique, where Plasmodium falciparum malaria is endemic, showed a statistically significant lower percentage of Hb S heterozygotes in the inpatient group. Evidence is thus provided that the protection given by Hb S to heterozygotes concerns not only malarial infection itself, but probably a wide spectrum of diseases to which persons who have a special resistance to P falciparum infection are less prone.
D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D006451:Hemoglobin, Sickle / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000235:genetics*; D012805:Sickle Cell Trait / Q000235:genetics*
D006451:Hemoglobin, Sickle