Some hereditary blood factors of the Bengali Muslim of Bangladesh (red cell enzymes, haemoglobins, and serum proteins)

Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of G6PD deficiency in Bengali adults with severe and uncomplicated malaria

BACKGROUND

Control of malaria increasingly involves administration of 8-aminoquinolines, with accompanying risk of haemolysis in individuals with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Few data on the prevalence and genotypic basis of G6PD deficiency are available from Bangladesh, where malaria remains a major problem in the South (Chittagong Division). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of G6PD deficiency, and associated G6PD genotypes, in adults with falciparum malaria in southern Bangladesh.

METHODS

G6PD status was assessed via a combination of fluorescent spot testing (FST) and genotyping in 141 Bengali patients admitted with falciparum malaria to two centres in Chittagong Division from 2012 to 2014. In addition, an analysis of genomic data from 1000 Genomes Project was carried out among five healthy Indian subcontinent populations.

RESULTS

One male patient with uncomplicated malaria was found to have G6PD deficiency on FST and a genotype associated with deficiency (hemizygous Orissa variant). In addition, there were two female patients heterozygous for deficiency variants (Orissa and Kerala-Kalyan). These three patients had a relatively long duration of symptoms prior to admission compared to G6PD normal cases, possibly suggesting an interaction with parasite multiplication rate. In addition, one of 27 healthy local controls was deficient on FST and hemizygous for the Mahidol variant of G6PD deficiency. Examination of 1000 Genomes Project sequencing data across the Indian subcontinent showed that 19/723 chromosomes (2.63%) carried a variant associated with deficiency. In the Bengali from Bangladesh 1000 Genomes population, three of 130 chromosomes (2.31%) carried deficient alleles; this included single chromosomes carrying the Kerala-Kalyan and Orissa variants.

CONCLUSIONS

In line with other recent work, G6PD deficiency is uncommon in Bengalis in Bangladesh. Further studies of particular ethnic groups are needed to evaluate the potential risk of wide deployment of primaquine in malaria control efforts in Bangladesh.

Characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of malaria incidence in Bangladesh, 2007

Background

Malaria remains a significant health problem in Bangladesh affecting 13 of 64 districts. The risk of malaria is variable across the endemic areas and throughout the year. A better understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns in malaria risk and the determinants driving the variation are crucial for the appropriate targeting of interventions under the National Malaria Control and Prevention Programme.

Methods

Numbers of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria cases reported by month in 2007, across the 70 endemic thanas (sub-districts) in Bangladesh, were assembled from health centre surveillance reports. Bayesian Poisson regression models of incidence were constructed, with fixed effects for monthly rainfall, maximum temperature and elevation, and random effects for thanas, with a conditional autoregressive prior spatial structure.

Results

The annual incidence of reported cases was 34.0 and 9.6 cases/10,000 population for P. falciparum and P. vivax respectively and the population of the 70 malaria-endemic thanas was approximately 13.5 million in 2007. Incidence of reported cases for both types of malaria was highest in the mountainous south-east of the country (the Chittagong Hill Tracts). Models revealed statistically significant positive associations between the incidence of reported P. vivax and P. falciparum cases and rainfall and maximum temperature.

Conclusions

The risk of P. falciparum and P. vivax was spatially variable across the endemic thanas of Bangladesh and also highly seasonal, suggesting that interventions should be targeted and timed according to the risk profile of the endemic areas. Rainfall, temperature and elevation are major factors driving the spatiotemporal patterns of malaria in Bangladesh.

Twinning rate in the Muslim population of West Bengal

Total birth records for the Bengalee Muslim population (BMP) and the Bengalee Hindu caste population (BHCP) for the period 1980-1988 were 17,720 and 119,107 respectively. Of these, the number of twin pairs were 363 BMP and 1,229 BHCP. These data were obtained from the registers of the following hospitals: Islamia Hospital, NRS Medical College and Hospitals and RG Kar Medical College and Hospitals, Calcutta and Medinipore Sadar Hospital, West Bengal, India. The twinning rates found were 20.48 and 10.57 per thousand deliveries in the BMP and BHCP respectively. The proportion of twins, 0.02048, in the BMP was significantly higher (Z = 12.38, p < or = 0.01) than that in the BHCP, 0.01057. This finding of a higher twinning rate in the BMP is corroborated by the fact that available data on the Muslim population of Srinagar in Kammu and Kashmir, and Lucknow and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh show higher twinning rates than the other populations of India. This increased twinning rate may be due to the greater amount of inbreeding in the BMP.

Blood genetic markers in Sri Lankan populations--reappraisal of the legend of Prince Vijaya

Serum protein (haptoglobin types; transferrin and group-specific component subtypes); haemoglobin and red cell enzymes (acid phosphatase, esterase D, glyoxalase I, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, adenylate kinase, and phosphoglucomutase (locus 1) (subtypes) were studied in the Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims of Sri Lanka. The allelic frequencies of all the polymorphic systems were similar in these populations without any significant differences. A close look at the present results and earlier investigations on 13 polymorphic loci controlled by 37 alleles did not reveal any genetic characteristics in the present-day Sinhalese population that are distinct from those in the Tamils of Sri Lanka. As such, genetic evidence linking the legendary origin of the Sinhalese population to East India (Prince Vijaya) is lacking.