[Plasmodium falciparum malaria and sickle cell gene in the popular Republic of Congo. I. Relationship between parasitemia and sicke cell trait in Djoumouna (region of Brazzaville) (author's transl)].

The relationship between sickle cell trait and falciparum malaria was studied in the village of Djoumouna, twenty kilometers south west of Brazzaville. Malaria is characterized by a stable high intensity of transmission on the average one infective mosquito bite by night and by child contrasting with a relatively low malarial infection rate. The prevalence of carriers of an S gene (AS) does not change with age: 22.2% for children under 5 years, 22.1% for childrern between 5 and 15 years, and 22.9% in adults. Malarial infection rates are 32% in homozygous AA children under five years and 38% in AS children, an insignificant difference. Our data for this region of the Congo fail to confirm the hypothesis that the AS genotype protects the carrier against Plasmodium falciparum infection.