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From: hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Re: Re: race specific...
Message-ID: <302@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 21:28:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.302
Posted: Thu Aug 22 21:28:04 1985
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Organization: NC State Univ.
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> 	What's a CBW?  I've been reading this group and wondering.
> 	Also, is sickle-cell anemia really a defense against malaria?
> 	If so, how does it work?  Isn't the cure worse than the disease?
> 
> Mark A. Johnson   --   Eastman Kodak Company  --   Information Products

a)Chemical and Biological Warfare
b)It is somewhat of a mis-statement to say that the *anemia* is a 
defense, since it is usually lethal.  The recessive homozygote has
anemia, but the heterozygote is (for all practical purposes) normal,
but has a mixture of normal and sickle types of hemoglobin in the red
blood cells, and the malarial parasites don't seem to do well in that
environment - so the heterozygote has a reasonable resistance to 
malaria.  In heavy malaria areas, this is enough to overcome the loss
of the recessive homozygotes.
--henry schaffer  n c state univ