I T HAS BECOME increasingly apparent that many forms of hemolytic disease are due to hereditary enzyme deficiencies affecting the erythrocytes. The drug-induced hemolytic anemias may be due to glucose-fl-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD ) deficiency, glutathione reductase (GSSG-R) deficiency, or to a deficiency in reduced glutathione (GSFI ). Nonspherocytic congenital hemolytic anemia may be due...

Primaquine is the only available drug for preventing relapse of malaria, and confusion surrounds its use. This review examines the wide range of clinical applications of primaquine described in the medical literature between 1946 and 2004. The risk of relapse of Plasmodium vivax malaria without primaquine therapy ranged from 5% to 80% or more, depending largely upon geographic location. Supervi...

It is believed that the tribal people, who constitute 8.6 per cent of the total population (2011 census of India), are the original inhabitants of India. Glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an X-linked genetic defect, affecting around 400 million people worldwide and is characterized by considerable biochemical and molecular heterogeneity. Deficiency of this enzyme is highly ...

High prevalence of malaria in Southeast Asia including Thailand is believed to be a major public health problem to the population in this area since time immemorial. Adaptation of the population in this area following the principle of natural selection coupled with genetic disorders can be expected. Some good examples for natural selection of malaria are the co-existence of high prevalence of t...