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On a field trip to the Dogon country (le Pays Dogon) in central Mali, we detected a high frequency of the Hb A[SUB2] abnormality, reaching higher numbers among blacksmiths (up to 12.4%) living in the same villages. In this report, by direct nucleotide sequencing and employing a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism approach, we show that the Hb A[SUB2] variant observed in the Dogon population is indeed Hb A[SUB2SUP'], also called Hb B[SUB2], and that in all of the cases the abnormal δ-globin gene is linked to a unique haplotype found linked to Hb A[SUB2SUP'] in the Herero population Bantu-speaking Blacks from Namibia. Although the unique Africa is a possibility, a recurrent mutational event cannot linked β cluster haplotype is one of the two major haplotypes found in all African populations. A study of populations from other regions of Africa is required to clarify this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe bacterial infections are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell anemia (SCA) but are poorly explained. The distribution of a bi-allelic polymorphism (Arg107Gly) of human leukocyte antigen-E (HLA-E) locus was investigated in 144 SCA patients, most of whom originated from from sub-Saharan Africa. Among them, 73 presented with at least one severe bacterial infection, whereas 71 did not. The HLA-E*0101/E*0101 genotype was more frequent among the group with infections than their counterparts (47% vs 21%; p corrected = 0.003). This genetic association is of relevance, given the emerging evidence for the involvement of HLA-E molecules in host response to pathogens.