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Photo by Aurimas Rimsa
New research suggests that, for young children, iron deficiency anemia offers a
greater protective effect against malaria than sickle cell trait.
The
study indicates that iron deficiency anemia can protect children age 2 and
younger from the blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and
treating the anemia with iron supplementation removes this protective
effect.
The researchers reported these findings in EBioMedicine.
“This study is elegant in its simplicity yet remains one of the most
substantial and systematic attempts to unveil the cellular-level
relationship between anemia, iron supplementation, and malaria risk,”
said study author Carla Cerami, MD, PhD, of the Medical Research Council
Unit The Gambia in Banjul, Gambia.
For this study, she and her colleagues analyzed the red blood cells of 135 anemic children who were participating in an iron supplementation trial.
The children ranged in age from 6 months to 24 months and lived in a malaria-endemic region of The Gambia where sickle cell trait was also common.
The children received iron (12 mg/day) through micronutrient powder for 84 days, and the researchers analyzed the children’s red blood cells at baseline, day 49, and day 84.
The team conducted in vitro growth and invasion assays with P falciparum laboratory and field strains. The study’s primary endpoint was in vitro parasite growth in the children’s RBCs.
The researchers found that “anemia substantially reduced the invasion and growth of both laboratory and field strains of P falciparum.” The team noted a roughly 10% growth reduction per standard deviation shift in hemoglobin.
On a population-wide basis, anemia reduced the blood stage of malaria by 15.9%, while the sickle cell trait reduced it by 3.5%.
“Our finding that anemia offers greater natural protection against blood-stage malaria infection than sickle cell trait has led us to formulate the interesting hypothesis that the widespread prevalence of anemia in people of African descent is a genetic signature of malaria,” said study author Morgan Goheen, PhD, of University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The researchers also found that deficits in invasion and growth for blood-stage P falciparum were reversed when anemic children had received 7 weeks of iron supplementation. Parasite growth was 2.4-fold higher after supplementation than it was at baseline (P<0.001).
Prior work by the same research group suggested the increased invasion and growth rates following iron supplementation are caused by the parasites’ strong preference for young red blood cells.
The researchers said these new field results consolidate the evidence that iron supplementation increases the risk of P falciparum malaria and provide support for the use of malaria prophylaxis in
conjunction with iron supplementation, especially during the early
phases of erythroid recovery. 
Photo by Aurimas Rimsa
New research suggests that, for young children, iron deficiency anemia offers a
greater protective effect against malaria than sickle cell trait.
The
study indicates that iron deficiency anemia can protect children age 2 and
younger from the blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and
treating the anemia with iron supplementation removes this protective
effect.
The researchers reported these findings in EBioMedicine.
“This study is elegant in its simplicity yet remains one of the most
substantial and systematic attempts to unveil the cellular-level
relationship between anemia, iron supplementation, and malaria risk,”
said study author Carla Cerami, MD, PhD, of the Medical Research Council
Unit The Gambia in Banjul, Gambia.
For this study, she and her colleagues analyzed the red blood cells of 135 anemic children who were participating in an iron supplementation trial.
The children ranged in age from 6 months to 24 months and lived in a malaria-endemic region of The Gambia where sickle cell trait was also common.
The children received iron (12 mg/day) through micronutrient powder for 84 days, and the researchers analyzed the children’s red blood cells at baseline, day 49, and day 84.
The team conducted in vitro growth and invasion assays with P falciparum laboratory and field strains. The study’s primary endpoint was in vitro parasite growth in the children’s RBCs.
The researchers found that “anemia substantially reduced the invasion and growth of both laboratory and field strains of P falciparum.” The team noted a roughly 10% growth reduction per standard deviation shift in hemoglobin.
On a population-wide basis, anemia reduced the blood stage of malaria by 15.9%, while the sickle cell trait reduced it by 3.5%.
“Our finding that anemia offers greater natural protection against blood-stage malaria infection than sickle cell trait has led us to formulate the interesting hypothesis that the widespread prevalence of anemia in people of African descent is a genetic signature of malaria,” said study author Morgan Goheen, PhD, of University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The researchers also found that deficits in invasion and growth for blood-stage P falciparum were reversed when anemic children had received 7 weeks of iron supplementation. Parasite growth was 2.4-fold higher after supplementation than it was at baseline (P<0.001).
Prior work by the same research group suggested the increased invasion and growth rates following iron supplementation are caused by the parasites’ strong preference for young red blood cells.
The researchers said these new field results consolidate the evidence that iron supplementation increases the risk of P falciparum malaria and provide support for the use of malaria prophylaxis in
conjunction with iron supplementation, especially during the early
phases of erythroid recovery.
Photo by Aurimas Rimsa
New research suggests that, for young children, iron deficiency anemia offers a
greater protective effect against malaria than sickle cell trait.
The
study indicates that iron deficiency anemia can protect children age 2 and
younger from the blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and
treating the anemia with iron supplementation removes this protective
effect.
The researchers reported these findings in EBioMedicine.
“This study is elegant in its simplicity yet remains one of the most
substantial and systematic attempts to unveil the cellular-level
relationship between anemia, iron supplementation, and malaria risk,”
said study author Carla Cerami, MD, PhD, of the Medical Research Council
Unit The Gambia in Banjul, Gambia.
For this study, she and her colleagues analyzed the red blood cells of 135 anemic children who were participating in an iron supplementation trial.
The children ranged in age from 6 months to 24 months and lived in a malaria-endemic region of The Gambia where sickle cell trait was also common.
The children received iron (12 mg/day) through micronutrient powder for 84 days, and the researchers analyzed the children’s red blood cells at baseline, day 49, and day 84.
The team conducted in vitro growth and invasion assays with P falciparum laboratory and field strains. The study’s primary endpoint was in vitro parasite growth in the children’s RBCs.
The researchers found that “anemia substantially reduced the invasion and growth of both laboratory and field strains of P falciparum.” The team noted a roughly 10% growth reduction per standard deviation shift in hemoglobin.
On a population-wide basis, anemia reduced the blood stage of malaria by 15.9%, while the sickle cell trait reduced it by 3.5%.
“Our finding that anemia offers greater natural protection against blood-stage malaria infection than sickle cell trait has led us to formulate the interesting hypothesis that the widespread prevalence of anemia in people of African descent is a genetic signature of malaria,” said study author Morgan Goheen, PhD, of University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The researchers also found that deficits in invasion and growth for blood-stage P falciparum were reversed when anemic children had received 7 weeks of iron supplementation. Parasite growth was 2.4-fold higher after supplementation than it was at baseline (P<0.001).
Prior work by the same research group suggested the increased invasion and growth rates following iron supplementation are caused by the parasites’ strong preference for young red blood cells.
The researchers said these new field results consolidate the evidence that iron supplementation increases the risk of P falciparum malaria and provide support for the use of malaria prophylaxis in
conjunction with iron supplementation, especially during the early
phases of erythroid recovery.