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Hemoglobin A2 Levels in Malaria Patients
The influence of malaria on the hemoglobin A2 (Hb A2) level in humans was studied in a series of 94 imported cases in Belgium. Sixty-nine of the patients were natives of Western European countries; their results are reported separately since their origin and the results of their hematological examination made it unlikely that they carried the β-thalassemia trait. The Hb A2 level of the 94 malaria patients (mean 2.76%; S.D. 0.51%) was not statistically different from that found in 60 healthy controls (mean 2.70%; S.D. 0.38%; P >40). Likewise the level of the 65 Western European patients was not statistically different from that of the same controls (mean 2.81%; S.D. 0.42%; P > 0.10). There was also no significant difference between the level in patients infected with a particular species of Plasmodium and that of the controls. No correlation was found between the Hb A2 level and the intensity of the parasitemia or the concentration of total hemoglobin in the blood. These results are discussed in comparison with the divergent ones obtained by others and it is suggested that malaria has no significant influence on the results of surveys for the prevalence of β-thalassemia in regions of malaria endemicity.