Can all races have sickle cell trait?
Yes, sickle cell anemia and trait affects millions throughout the world. It is particularly common among people whose ancestors come from Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Cuba, Central America, Saudi Arabia, India, and Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Greece, and Italy. In the Unites States, it affects around 72,000 people, most of whose ancestors come from Africa. The disease occurs in about 1 in every 500 African-American births and 1 in every 1000 to 1400 Hispanic-American births. About 2 million Americans, or 1 in 12 African Americans, carry the sickle cell allele. http://www.who.int/genomics/public/geneticdiseases/en/index2.html#SCA How did the HbS mutation evolve and why it persists today among certain populations? Based on experimental evidence of a reduced incidence of malaria among people carrying sickle cells in their blood stream, it is now assumed that the presence of the sickle cell trait protects individuals against malaria. Malaria parasites that invade red bloo
