Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in northern Vietnam

• Published in: Tropical medicine & international health Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 203 - 206
• Main Authors: Verlé, P., Nhan, D. H., Tinh, T. T., Uyen, T. T., Thuong, N. D., Kongs, A., Stuyft, P., Coosemans, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.03.2000; Blackwell Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anemias. Hemoglobinopathies; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Diseases of red blood cells; Endemic Diseases; G6PD deficiency; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency - epidemiology; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency - ethnology; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; malaria transmission; Malaria, Falciparum - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Prevalence; selective advantage; Tropical medicine; Vietnam; Vietnam - epidemiology; Asia; Vietnam; Human; Protozoa; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; Glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase; Malaria; Enzyme; Deficiency; Transmission; Metabolic diseases; Hemopathy; Parasitosis; Enzymopathy; Epidemiology; Genetic disease; Infection; Plasmodium falciparum; Hemolytic anemia; Oxidoreductases; Child
• ISSN: 1360-2276; 1365-3156
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.2000.00542.x

Summary Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency was evaluated in 1676 schoolboys in northern Vietnam. The trait was nearly absent in boys of the Kinh (0.5%) and the Mong (0.7%) ethnic groups that traditionally have lived outside malaria transmission areas. Prevalences among ethnic groups living in the foothills, the breeding area of the main malaria vector Anopheles minimus, ranged from 9.7% to 31%. These findings support the hypothesis of a selective advantage of the trait in Plasmodium falciparum‐endemic areas.