Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ecsvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!ecsvax!hes 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 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 06:18:58 EDT References: <191@tekig5.UUCP> <314@kitty.UUCP> <678@cybvax0.UUCP> <1858@aecom.UUCP> <192@husky.uucp> Organization: NC State Univ. Lines: 16 > 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