Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is common in many regions of the world where mosquito-borne malaria is present. It is believed that people who carry only one sickle cell mutation (they do not have the disease) can tolerate malaria better than people who carry no mutation. This may be why the mutation persists in the population despite the high mortality associated with untreated sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is the most common single gene disorder in Africans, affecting one in every 375. Globally, a quarter of a million children are born with the disease each year, mainly in Africa, the Mediterranean, Arabia, and South Asia. Abstract source