Sickle cell anemia and malaria are connected, with people who have sickle cell trait having greater resistance to malaria. However, some dispute the theory of natural selection linking the two diseases, and the fact that sickle cell disease sufferers often die prematurely raises further questions.
Malaria has been spread to many tropical and subtropical regions of the world, regions originating from peoples where sickle cell anemia is prevalent. This observation gave rise to the creation of a connection between sickle cell anemia and malaria. The researchers also said that people with sickle cell trait, which is not the actual disease, have greater resistance to developing malaria than people without the disease or the trait, thus establishing another connection between these two diseases. Some scientists also believe that this information proves the work of the theory of natural selection. They conclude that evolution links sickle cell anemia and malaria in a positive light, suggesting that the body’s ability to develop deformed or sickle-shaped red blood cells made native populations of the tropics ‘fit’ for survival.
While it is not known exactly how people with sickle cell trait are better able to resist malaria, researchers believe that a number of factors are involved. For example, a person with the stroke’s red blood cells might mow down when oxygen tension is low in venous blood, which is the blood in veins. Infection of red blood cells with malaria-causing parasites is also suspected to cause low oxygen tension and lead to mowing. The sickle-shaped blood cells might be seen by the immune system as invading and destroyed before the parasites have a chance to fully invade. Some also suggest that the parasites responsible for malaria could be destroyed directly within the sickle cells themselves.
Some people, however, have disputed the connections between sickle cell anemia and malaria. The fact that a person with sickle cell trait generally has genetic resistance to malaria does not mean that he or she is immune to the parasite responsible for the disease. Such an individual has a 25% or greater chance of succumbing to malaria and dying from it. This is one of many facts that lead some doctors, researchers, scientists and laymen to reject the theory of natural selection linking the two diseases. Natural selection would not have considered the worldwide migration of populations originating from the tropics and subtropics to regions such as Europe and North America, where malaria has never been as prevalent as it once was in hot, humid climates.
Sickle cell disease sufferers usually end up dying prematurely due to the development of deformed red blood cells introduced through the supposed protections of evolution. Another consideration causing controversy over a natural and beneficial connection between sickle cell disease and malaria is the fact that native foods rich in a substance called thiocyanate, such as cassava and African yam, were staples in Africa. Thiocyanate has been shown to be an anti-sickle cell agent, and during times when these foods were consumed as staple foods, sickle cell disease was virtually unheard of. If sickle-shaped blood cells are beneficial in helping defend against malaria, the question of why foods with natural sickle-fighting properties would be staple in a malaria region has led some people to question a natural link that it is beneficial between the two diseases.
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