• Question: Can someone have a sickle cell anaemia and don't look pale?

    Asked by Sofia Masiello to Noel on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Noel Carter

      Noel Carter answered on 18 Mar 2015:


      People can have one normal copy of the haemoglobin gene and one sickle cell mutant copy and are said to be heterozygous. They have a kind of intermediate version of the disease. In many countries this protects against malaria because the malaria parasite grows in red blood cells and doesn’t grow as well in sickle cells

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