Is Sickle Cell more predominant among African-Americans as opposed to Black Afri!
Question:
Is Sickle Cell more predominant among African-Americans as opposed to Black Africans?
A serious question that arose between my roommate, who is African-American, and I during a discussion re the US Supreme Court decision today concerning quota qualifictions in the public school systems.
Answers:
The sickle cell gene is more common in anyone racially African, not just African-Americans. However, it is also more common in other cultural and racial groups in the equatorial belt, including parts of southeast Asia and the Mediterranean, so it is NOT unique or limited to those of African descent.
The hypothesis is that the sickle cell trait confers some resistance to the symptoms of malaria, which is endemic to the equatorial regions, so it has been selected for over human evolution.