Hemoglobinopathy and Evolution
Some hemoglobinopathies (and also related diseases like glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency) seem to have given an evolutionary benefit, especially to heterozygotes, in areas where malaria is endemic. Malaria parasites live inside red blood cells, but subtly disturb normal cellular function. In patients predisposed for rapid clearance of red blood cells, this may lead to early destruction of cells infected with the parasite and increased chance of survival for the carrier of the trait.
Read more about this topic: Hemoglobinopathy
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“The evolution of a highly destined society must be moral; it must run in the grooves of the celestial wheels.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)