IUBio

Malaria control

Hugh J. Baker ar650 at FREENET.TORONTO.ON.CA
Sat Sep 2 08:51:08 EST 1995


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
















More information about the Immuno mailing list

Send comments to us at biosci-help [At] net.bio.net