Large scale screening for haemoglobin disorders in southern Vietnam: implications for avoidance and management.
In order to obtain an approximate assessment of the public health burden that will be posed by the inherited disorders of haemoglobin in southern Vietnam, several thousand individuals were screened for these conditions. A smaller sample was screened for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. The important haemoglobin disorders identified were beta thalassaemia, haemoglobin E and a variety of different forms of alpha thalassaemia. There were sufficient G6PD-deficient individuals to materially affect malaria control programme design. The most remarkable finding was wide variation in the gene frequencies of these conditions among the ethnic groups sampled. The approximate number of babies expected to be born with clinically significant haemoglobin disorders in Vietnam was estimated from the gene-frequency data. This study emphasizes the importance of wide-scale population screening, including ethnic subgroups, to establish the requirements for inherited haemoglobin disorder programmes in resource-limited settings.
O'Riordan
Sean
S
The Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Hien
Tran Tinh
TT
Miles
Katie
K
Allen
Angela
A
Quyen
Nguyen Ngoc
NN
Hung
Nguyen Quoc
NQ
Anh
Do Quang
DQ
Tuyen
Luc Nguyen
LN
Khoa
Dao Bach
DB
Thai
Cao Quang
CQ
Triet
Dao Minh
DM
Phu
Nguyen Hoan
NH
Dunstan
Sarah
S
Peto
Tim
T
Clegg
John
J
Farrar
Jeremy
J
Weatherall
David
D
D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D005953:Glycogen Storage Disease Type I / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics; D006446:Hemoglobin E / Q000032:analysis; D006453:Hemoglobinopathies / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration; D009154:Mutation; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration; D015995:Prevalence; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D017085:alpha-Thalassemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics
D006446:Hemoglobin E