Greetings!
As is often the case with new Net users I was thrashing around looking
for information on malaria and accidentally found the Immunology chat on
Malaria. I was NEVER ABLE TO FIND IT AGAIN!
However, having failed find out what I wanted to know from other people
who might have helped me out I am writing directly to those august
persons whose correspondance so captivated me earlier in the year.
I'm aware that sickle cell anemia and thalassemia are protective (in
their heterozygous genotype) against malaria. Twenty years ago I was told
that this was because the oxygen tension in the blood of sickle-cell and
thalassemia carriers is too low to support the plasmodium.
So I have these questions:
1) Is that (still) true?
2) Is it possible to artificially and temporarily adjust the oxygen-carrying
capacity of the blood of "normal" individuals so as to make them
unattractive to the plasmodium?
3) Notwithstanding the previous two questions, is it possible that the
aforementioned genetic defects actually interfere with the plasmodium by
altering an erythrocyte membrane receptor which would normally accept the
parasite?
Waiting with baited breath and mosquito netting,
Hugh Baker