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Home Q & A Board Biology-Related Homework Help Genetics and Developmental Biology
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microbioflop microbioflop
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12 years ago
What affect would a sickle cell vaccine have on the frequency of the sickle cell allele in Africa? If the vaccine works will the sickle cell allele be removed from the world?
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#1
12 years ago
No, the vaccine will not change the genetics of soembody. Sickle cell is a genetic disease, and unless they find the genes responsible for it (as they can then treat them with genetic therapy) there will always be people with sickle cell.
And as it is a genetic disorder, there would be no need to create a vaccine, its not something that you can build up immunity to, you either have it, you dont, or you are a carrier.
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#2
12 years ago
First of all, because it's genetic, you really can't cure it. Second, ridding of sickle cell disease would cause many MANY more deaths due to malaria. Malaria DOES NOT affect people with one or two allele(s) of sickle cell disease, but if sickle cell disease was cured, malaria would present a greater issue. Also, that is the same reason why sickle cell disease does not  "fade away" (due to genetic drift, etc.). Malaria and natural selection prevent that from happening.
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