Prevalence of Sickle Cell Anemia in Association of Plasmodium falciparum from Rajnandgaon, India

Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder resulting from the inheritance of abnormal genes from parents. It is caused due to mutation in the β-globulin gene. Sickle cell anemia is widespread across the world and in Central India. The present study was undertaken to study the prevalence of the disorder in the Rajnandgaon district of Central India. A random sampling of 6088 people was done to test the sickle cell anemia problem by slide test method and a total of 249 (4.09%) people were found sickled positive. Further electrophoresis test was performed for all 249 of which 67 were found homozygous (HbSS) and 182 were found heterozygous (HbAS) positive. Besides the above analysis, chloroquine prophylaxis associated with a high prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum Pfcrt K76T mutation in people (n=26) with sickle cell anemia was also analyzed. The genotype of the subject was screened using the hemoglobin electrophoresis system and the P. falciparum Pfcrt genotyping was carried out using PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). The prevalence rate of Pfcrt K76T mutant gene was proportionately found higher in the hemoglobin SS (n=40, m=32, r=0.67) genotype individuals than the hemoglobin AS (n=52, m= 27, r=0.519) and AA (n=182, m= 68, r= 0.37).