Question

A person with sickle cell anaemia is

• A. more prone to malaria
• B. more prone to typhoid
• C. less prone to malaria
• D. less prone to typhoid.

Answer 1

Answer:

C. less prone to malaria

• Sickle cell trait protects against malaria.

• Malarial parasite is unable to penetrate the erythrocyte membrane as sickle haemoglobin might get in the way of Plasmodium parasite infecting red blood cells, reducing the number of parasites that actually infect the host thus conferring some protection against the disease.